Kumogakure Ninja
by Iron Monkey Fist
Summary: A six year old Naruto runs away from the Hidden Leaf village and meets none other than Kirabi. How will life turn out for Naruto as a Kumogakure Ninja? You'll have to read to find out. Will be epic in length. Currently being rewritten!
1. A Perhaps Fated Encounter

**Kumogakure Ninja**_  
_

Posted: 13-09-09

Updated: 28-06-11

**_Author's Notes_**

Hello there and thank you for checking my story out. Kumo Nin is my attempt at a 'what if' plot with a Kumo!Naruto who rises through the ranks of the shinobi world, in new settings with new characters and people and new arcs. Since its original posting, Kumo Nin has gone changes in order to improve the content of each chapter.

A forewarning, when I began writing Kumo Nin I never imagined I would get this invested and as a result, I pretty much skimmed through earlier chapters, leaving out many key differences between canon Naruto and _this_ Naruto. In the rewritten chapters of Kumo Nin, I have tried to mend this problem to the best of my ability but I'll probably come back to all the chapters one day to rewrite them.

**Reviews make me happy,** so please help me out and tell me what you think. I will always respond to a review, no matter how many chapters behind, if you have a question, I will answer.

Now then, that's a long enough author's note.

Enjoy!

* * *

CH1: A Perhaps Fated Encounter

* * *

(Konohagakure no Sato)

Konoha's residentjinchūriki walked down the road to his home, hands stuffed in his pockets and a frown on his face. He had just been to the playground and gotten yelled at by adults for trying to play with a lonely pink-haired girl who usually got bullied. He vented his frustration by kicking an empty can aside as continued his way home. Naruto sighed tiredly as he neared his apartment building. 'Ah well, tomorrow's another day. Maybe I'll find a friend tomorrow...'

As his door came in sight, Naruto felt that something was wrong, the door was slightly ajar. Running up the last few steps and tripping in the process, he got to his door and opened it… to find his residence completely trashed.

The villagers had broken in _again_.

'Damn it!' Naruto inspected the damage done as he clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, seething with anger. 'Why can't they just leave me alone? It's always me they decide to bully at the academy, it's always me the teachers blame, and it's always my fault when something bad is going on!'

Why me?

The question was something he often pondered on. Why was he always the one to get abused in the orphanage, school, and by every adult in the village? Though Naruto appeared to be stupid to the majority of people that 'knew' him, he wasn't anything but. There had to be a reason why he was picked on, why he was the village pariah. The boy had racked his brains many times to figure out what it was he had done wrong but soon enough he realized: whatever he was being blamed for, it wasn't his fault. It had to be someone else's and the only people coming to mind were his parents.

If his parents were to blame, then why did the Hokage tell him they were great people? It didn't add up.

Naruto looked around his demolished apartment. The couch was ripped open, the kitchen was full with glass shards and spoiled food and his bedroom was in the same horrible state as the rest. Graffiti adorned the walls, spelling out hurtful things.

Naruto fell to his knees; he couldn't do this any longer. Not anymore.

"I- I can't stay here any longer…" Naruto said out loud as though struck with an epiphany. "Forget the villagers, all of them!"

Naruto stood up, determined to follow through with his next course of action, and opened the closet; took out a backpack and began to gather his things.

Ten minutes later he was done.

He packed the bag to the brim with essentials and a few things dear to him, like the ramen bowl he got from his Teuchi and Ayame, the amiable ramen bar vendors.

"I'm sorry, Jiji, but I can't stay here any longer- I won't stay here any longer. This village can go to hell. I'm done with taking all of this!"

Naruto spotted his reflection in broken shards of glass and frowned: his clothes were too bright, meaning he would be easier to spot. Quickly he took of his beige shorts and green shirt, packed them and put on his only pair of black pants and sweater.

The boy reached for his pair of goggles and froze. It felt weird taking the birthday gift with him, he had gotten them only a few weeks ago. No, they would remain in his apartment and serve as an item for the Third to remember him by.

"Time to go, Naruto," he resolved, strapping on his kunai and shuriken pouches given to him by the academy as he made his way to the door.

-ooo-

(Outskirts of Konoha)

Naruto panted heavily, reiterating curses under his breath as he finally made a stop, just a mile or so out of Konoha. He felt a maelstrom of feelings going through him: anxiety, sadness and euphoria all at the same time. He could barely believe he got out of Konoha without being spotted.

'I'm free! I actually did it!'

A ruffled sound startled him out of laughter and into silence… he could've sworn he heard something.

Deciding he should better get a move on, the blond grabbed his bag from the ground and began to run north.

…

Two hours passed and Naruto fell to his knees, exhausted. Panting heavily he opened his bag and took out his water canteen and some food he packed up prior to leaving. He ate quickly and was about to roll out sheets and go to sleep when he heard something. Fear gripped him as he heard a voice, a deep voice that seemed unusually cheerful. Naruto drew to kunai from his pouches and crouched as he surreptitiously made his way to the source.

He saw light, it was dim but there. Warmth crawled over his skin and between the bushes he saw a black man making weird sounds and writing something down sitting on a fallen tree with a fire before him. He was cooking up some fish. He took the time to looks closer at the huge man; he was black, muscular with white-blond hair and moustache, several tattoos on his arms and was dressed in shinobi garb. Most noticeably, he had an odd, one-shoulder-strap flak jacket and the headband fastened to his forehead bore clouds...

'A Kumo ninja!' Naruto's mind shouted. 'I better get out of here before-'

"Yo, kiddo, want to come out?"

Naruto yelped and turned to make a run for it, but he was blocked by the imposing figure. Naruto cursed, closing his eyes, expecting some kind of physical punishment any moment...

"Open yo' eyes and be surprised."

He opened his eyes to see the man smiling and offering a fish on a stick. Naruto slowly took it and followed him to the campsite. Naruto sat down on the ground and nibbled at his fish, still a little hungry.

"The name's Kirabi by the way, now tell me, yo', what's your name?"

Naruto's eyebrow twitched. "The name is Uzumaki Naruto," he said after a moment. "What are you doing out here, Kirabi-san? I thought Kumo was neutral with Konoha, aren't you trespassing?"

Kirabi shrugged and threw the mauled fish aside. "The treaty allows us to go on border patrols and missions, ya see?"

The serious tone made Naruto see the man in a different way. 'He isn't as goofy as he makes himself out to be... just like me.'

"So, are you going back to Kumo soon?" Naruto asked between mouths full of fish.

Kirabi nodded, resuming his humming again whilst eating. Naruto emulated him and silently ate his fill, ignoring the question he was burning to ask.

"I'm not out to hurt your Hokage, yo!" Kirabi suddenly shouted. The Kumo shinobi laughed as Naruto jumped.

Naruto cursed loudly at Kirabi, flapping his arms screaming, ''What the hell is your problem?'' only to be further annoyed by Kirabi whose laughter continued. "Besides," the blond said when he regained his bearings, ''It's not like you can take on Jiji! He's the most powerful ninja in Konoha!''

Kirabi's laugh died down into a chuckle before stopping completely. "I wouldn't underestimate me, yo!" Kirabi began to make those weird sounds again, taking out a notepad and a pencil before he began singing… or whatever it was he was doing. "Cause I dance like buttery fly and sting like a bee! I ain't to be underestimated 'cause I am the Killer Bee!"

"Would you stop doing that?" Naruto snapped at him, causing Kirabi to once again roar in laughter as the young blond yelled at him.

Naruto was out of breath and dropped to the ground. "Really, what's your problem?"

"I ain't got a problem, yo!" Kirabi said with a chuckle.

Naruto pulled at his hair in frustration. What the _hell_ was wrong with this guy? He hadn't ever met such an _eccentric_ person before. Then again he hadn't really ever spoken to an adult. Being berated and yelled at didn't really count as a conversation.

"So, what are you doing out in the middle of nowhere, Naruto?" Kirabi asked after a while. "Your parents must be-"

"I don't have any parents," Naruto mumbled. "I ran away from Konoha."

Kirabi gave Naruto a curious look and asked, "Why?"

"Why I'm an orphan?" Naruto said half-jokingly.

"No, why did you run away from home?"

Naruto frowned, his expression contorting in anger, "Because they can all die and go to hell!" he yelled at Kirabi. "Those assholes always pick on me, always hit me and always blame me for everything!"

"Wow, wow! Calm down, kiddo!" Kirabi said, "Why do they hate you, do you know that?"

Naruto shook his head, "No, that's the worst part of it! How am I supposed to say I'm sorry if I don't know what I've done wrong? Jiji won't tell me either, he always tries to distract me with ramen or just mentions how great my parents were…"

Kirabi rubbed his chin, adopting a sagely thinking position and hazarded a guess. ''Maybe it's because you're an idiot?''

''Hey!''

Kirabi ignored the outburst, shaking his head in comical manner, ''No, that can't be it. Hmm... hmm... aha!''

Naruto looked up, ''What, what is it? You think you know why they hate me?''

''It's because,'' Kirabi said slowly, his tone was in a whisper and Naruto almost shook with suspense, ''… you're a midget!''

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT FOR AN LAME ASS REASON TO HATE SOMEONE! BESIDES, I'M SIX YEARS OLD AND QUITE AVERAGE FOR MY AGE!"

…

It was twenty minutes later and Kirabi was still dodging projectiles. As he duly noted the boy's aim was quite good and he took the time to seriously examine the boy. He had a hunch, but for that hunch to prove correct, he would have to anger the boy. No, he would have to _really_ piss the kid off.

''I got it!'' Kirabi said snapping his finger. ''It must've been your parents! They probably were some idiots like you and messed up big time!''

''DON'T INVOLVE MY PARENTS INTO THIS, BASTARD! JIJI SAID THEY WERE GREAT PEOPLE!''

''Really?'' Kirabi said sarcastically, catching a kunai between his index and middle finger. ''Then how come they're dead if they were so great? Hmm, I got it! You were such a disappointment, they killed themselves when you were born! Or they just pretended to be dead so they wouldn't have to have anything to do with their idiotic son!''

''Shut up!'' Naruto said, tears starting to roll down his cheeks. ''Just shut up!''

Kirabi took a mocking pose, waving his hand at him dismissively. ''Oh, come on! Just face it, yo! You're the kid mommy and daddy didn't want! Come on, face it! You're a failure!''

''I said… **SHUT UP!**''

Kirabi took a defensive stance instantly. ''Just as I thought, he's one of us...'' Naruto's eyes started to switch from blue to red rapidly before they settled on blue slit orbs.

''Come on!'' Kirabi goaded. ''Take out yo anger, son, show me what a worthless brat from Konoha can do!''

In a blink of an eye, the boy was in front of him with his arm cocked back and he slung his fist at him. Kirabi held up his arms having anticipated the blow but the deceptively powerful punch made him buckle slightly. ''Good, show me what you got, Uzumaki Naruto. Show me your gift!'' Kirabi's eyes looked with those of the young blond, which were flaring from blue to red with slits, ''Show me what a _monster_ you can be,'' he said softly.

Naruto's eyes turned into red slit orbs, his whisker marks became more defined and his fangs grew.

''Good, Uzumaki Naruto,'' Kirabi said, ''Don't turn away from it, don't struggle, don't fight it... _embrace it_.''

Naruto jumped back, landing in a crouched position. The blond jinchūriki growled craving for blood to sooth his anger.

''W- what's ha- happening to me?'' Naruto made a weak sound, tears began streaming down the child's face, ''Is this the reason? Is this why they hate me?''

''Yes.'' That sounded far colder than it should've been. Far colder than any child should have heard, but it was necessary.

The tears stopped, something in the boy snapped and then, Naruto howled, ''No!'' into the night and bubbly chakra began to pour out of him and took the shape of a fox.

The Kumo shinobi looked down upon the boy with pity. 'But this had to be done,' he told himself a dozen times, as the small boy's resistance to his tenant became smaller and smaller and the bijū's effect became even more profound. Within minutes the boy in front of him was no more. The sweet and innocent child was replaced something that resembled a monster.

Kirabi dodged to the left, narrowly avoiding the chakra appendage thrown at him at surprising speed; charged lightning chakra through his right arm into his fist. Kirabi charged at the younger jinchūriki, swiftly ducking under another claw and side stepping the small blasts coming from the boy's mouth.

''Raiken!''

The Lightning Fist slammed in the boy's stomach sent him flying in twirls through a tree and lodged into a boulder, but he quickly got loose and charged the shinobi, his deep wound healing already. Kirabi ducked under a claw swipe, leaned back on his hands, standing on them as he propelled the boy in to the air with two heavy boots in the stomach.

The child landed on all fours and growled menacingly, looking Kirabi in the eyes with nothing but craving for blood, for pain, for _misery_. The boy grew his second and third tails.

''It's time I finished this,'' Kirabi said out loud, channelling chakra in to his right hand, ''Don't hate me when you wake up, kiddo!''

With a burst of speed Kirabi took Naruto by surprise and held him up by the neck with his left hand, ignoring the singeing of his skin and slammed his fingers into the boy's stomach.

''Gogyō Fūin!'' The skin peeled off his hand as Kirabi executed the jutsu.

A bloodcurdling scream was all that the boy could muster before his eyes rolled back as darkness took him.

* * *

Thanks for reading and please leave a review.

**Jutsu Used:**

_(Jutsu: Raiken - Lightning Fist!) - B rank, offensive, short range. A technique passed down from teacher to student in Kumogakure. This technique requires a chakra coating around the hand before expelling lightning chakra on top of it. Its piercing power is quite destructive and it is powerful enough to go through boulders with ease._

_(Jutsu: Gogyō Fūin – Five Elements Seal!) - A rank, supplementary, short range. A powerful sealing technique that can only be executed by those with significant knowledge on the human Chakra Pathway System, this jutsu disrupts the channelling and manipulating chakra, making it a very dangerous and possibly fatal technique for shinobi._


	2. Kumogakure

**Kumogakure Ninja**

Posted: 15-09-09

Updated: 17-06-11

* * *

CH2: Kumogakure

* * *

(Konoha Outskirts)

Naruto woke up with a splitting headache, feeling as though he had slept under a boulder since every muscle in his body hurt and every tendon felt sprained. With great effort he got up to examine his surroundings.

''Yo, you're up, huh?''

Naruto jumped, looking up to see the same man from last night crouched on a tree branch above him with a net full of fish. Naruto glared at him, ''It's _you_,'' the blond spat venomously, ''What do you want?''

Kirabi ignored his contemptuous look at jumped down. ''Are ya hungry? I caught some good ol' fishes.'' The shinobi had a stack of neatly cut logs on his back, bound by rope and put them down, arranging the longs in a neat square and gathered stones and leafs.

Though he still disliked everything about the man, Naruto couldn't help but whisper "Awesome'' (as any six-year-old would have) when Kirabi ignited a fire by shooting lightning from the palm of his hand.

_Zap!_

''No salt, but it's better than nothin', right?'' Kirabi said cheerfully, handing the younger blond a roasted fish on a stick.

Naruto was too hungry to be refusing food and begrudgingly accepted the food.

The Kumo shinobi finished his fish in three big bites and grabbed another one. ''I know you hate me right now,'' he said, swallowing a mouthful of fish, ''But I didn't mean anything I said last night. It had to be done. And I think you'll only become stronger more now that you know what you are.''

''Then what am I?'' Naruto threw the rest of his fish aside with a furious look. ''You seem to know _what_ I am, so why don't you tell me?''

Kirabi lowered his fish, ''Alright, I'll tell you.''

Naruto straightened up.

''You're a jinchūriki.''

''A what?''

''You're what they refer to as 'power of human sacrifice'. It's not very complicated, you hold a demon within you,'' Kirabi said in a nonchalant manner, as though he was telling what the time was.

Naruto stood up with an incredulous expression, ''Are you kidding me? Why the hell would you think that? _How_ would you even know that?''

''Because last night you snapped and you went jinchūriki on my ass, that's how I know.'' Kirabi ripped of a whole fish and swallowed it. ''You're like me. I'm a demon container too.''

''You're lying!''

Kirabi laughed humourlessly. ''Oh, believe me, this isn't something I'd lie about.''

''I still don't believe you!'' Naruto shouted, ''I'm not a demon and I don't believe you're either! You're just making fun of me again, aren't you?''

''Fine,'' Kirabi stood up dusting off his trousers, ''I'll prove it.'' Standing up straight, Naruto was suddenly reminded how damn tall Kirabi was… and how intimidating his imposing figure was.

Before the youngster knew what was going on, he felt his either body buckle under severe pressure. It was as if the gravity multiplied a hundred times and the air thinned as he gasped to breathe. He barely managed to look up and as he did so, he looked into Kirabi's eyes as the Hachibi jinchūriki took off his shades and found him staring into silver-rimmed orbs of darkness. Kirabi had grown fangs and his hair became unruly in thick locks, loosening his bandana and headband.

''Believe me now?'' Kirabi said, his voice much deeper and menacing, ''This is what it is to be a jinchūriki. This is what it is to be like me... and you.''

As fast as it happened, it ceased. Kirabi's features instantly reverted to normal. Naruto's legs were still shaking; he still found it more difficult to breath. ''W- wh- what was that?'' he managed to gasp, ''I coul- couldn't breathe!''

''I'll show you, if you'll come with me to Kumo. I'll teach you how to use your powers to protect yourself.''

Naruto looked up, his lungs gradually taking up more air again. ''You'll show me how to control it?''

''Yes.''

Kirabi left Naruto to his thoughts wordlessly and allowed the boy to decide in the comfort of his own privacy.

'Kumo, huh?' Naruto scratched his cheek, feeling a strange sensation in his stomach. Where he would go after escaping Konoha… he hadn't planned so far ahead. 'The people in Kumo must be a lot different than those in Konoha. Kirabi is pretty open about being… whatever it was he said he was and if I'm one too…' Naruto gritted his teeth, this one decision could and _would_ change his life forever and as much as he willed it to be, it wasn't easy. On one hand, he was still in somewhat disbelief he had actually left Konoha and he was dealing with the emotional transition (not that he was aware of it), on the other he weighed the possible pros and the possible cons as to going to Kumo with the tall, scary man he had _just met._

_"I'll teach you how to use your powers to protect yourself."_

The words clearly rang in his mind and only then did he notice how much Kirabi had emphasized on how he would teach Naruto to protect himself, not asking anything in return. The six-year-old already knew his answer by the time Kirabi approached him once again.

''I accept.''

-ooo-

(Weeks Later: Kumogakure Outskirts)

''This is AWESOME!'' Naruto shouted as he stood next to the giant jōnin jinchūriki in a valley, looking up to an enormous mountain that reached the clouds. "THIS IS KUMO?"

''Yeah,'' Kirabi adjusted his shades with an approving nod. "The most beautiful view in the world is on the top of that mountain… nothing but clouds and endless stretches of land and sea, the sun during the day and the moon during the night.''

''So, you're going to train me here?'' Naruto had a grin plastered to his face. ''It's so weird!''

Kirabi chuckled, ''Yeah, I guess it's a lot different your hometown, isn't it?'' The jōnin led the boy down the mountain and chuckled. They had travelled for a couple of weeks before they got here. On the way he had thought the child some chakra control manipulation. Even for a jinchūriki the child had abnormally large reserves twice the amount of many chūnin and even some jōnin he was acquainted with. "Just wait till you see Mt. Unraikyō, kiddo. It's where I usually live, though that's going to have to change now that you're going to live with me."

"Why do you have to move out because of me?"

"You're going to be attending the academy, too, kid," the older jinchūriki replied. "You need to get to know kids your own age, this isn't Konoha."

Naruto seemed haunted by bad memories for a moment but smiled and nodded excitedly, ''When do we start for real? This chakra control stuff you've been teaching me so far is cool and all but I wanna learn to use ninjutsu like you do, Kirabi!'' Naruto had an excited smile on his face typical of that of a six-year-old. It brought a smile to Kirabi's face to know how happy the prospect of an actual shinobi education excited the youngster.

''I have to get you to my big bro first, he's the Raikage of Kumo,'' Kirabi said, ''Hop on, the climb is pretty long and the checkpoints are always crowded. I'll get us up in a second.''

Naruto climbed on Kirabi's back and held on tight to the cornrows-sporting jōnin, ''Checkpoints?'' he asked him, wondering why a shinobi village would need checkpoints if they were settled up in the highest mountains he had seen.

''For the merchants and other folk that want to come to Kumo. They can't climb the mountains like us shinobi can and even if they could, we wouldn't trust them since they could be agents working for other villages to sabotage us. That's why they need to check in before they get clearance for using the elevators up,'' Kirabi explained patiently.

''Sounds cool,'' Naruto said without truly processing the information as a six-year-old would generally do when an adult explained something to them,

''Just hold on tight,'' Kirabi said, setting himself in a crouch position, ''This is going to be dizzy ride!''

Naruto climbed onto the jōnin with practiced ease he had gained after weeks of travelling. Kirabi adjusted his shades and got to his feet and set off at blinding speed, racing towards the mountain.

…

It took several hours to climb the mountain of Kumo. On the way up, Naruto found himself having a harder time breathing. According to Kirabi, it was because air got thinner the higher they climbed up. During the climb, Naruto could've sworn he saw other people than merchants and civilians, as if he was being watched. 'They're probably those weird guys that wear animal masks all the time.'

''Nearly there, hold on extra tight 'cause I'm gonna fly!''

''W- what?'' Naruto shouted over the bellowing mountain winds, thinking he had hadn't heard Kirabi properly but the man had already shot up the air like a bullet, roaring in laughter with his arm spread, ''Raikō Jōshō!''

Naruto screamed with the sudden movement. Kirabi sped up so fast he couldn't see where they were going. He couldn't even distinguish the clouds and rocks. The tunnel vision was getting to him and the lack of air was almost unbearable, he felt the world go dark when they broke through the clouds. It was a cold sensation but a welcomed sensation nonetheless considering his senses came back to him.

_(Jutsu: Raikō Jōshō – Lightning Climb!)_

Naruto gasped and wretched as he emptied the contents of his stomach. He was grateful the climb was over and curled up into a ball, holding his stomach. The strain had even been placed on his stomach and it nauseated him.

''Yeah, you'll have to get used to that,'' Kirabi said offhandedly, not perturbed in the slightest. He had experience to thank for that. ''The air up here is different though. It's just like down below.''

''So, you're saying everyone vomits the first time they get here?'' Naruto asked, whipping his mouth with his shirt sleeve.

''Not necessarily. Civilians get supplied with oxygen tanks at the elevators. Most shinobi go through bodily stress while climbing, their body has to constantly adjust to the pressure and oxygen in the air. Don't worry though, you'll get used to it,'' Kirabi glanced at his watch, ''Come on, bro's about to go on his break and he doesn't like to be disturbed during his breaks.''

Naruto nodded and ran after Kirabi, who had already started to make his way.

-ooo-

(Raikage Tower)

''I'm telling ya, just let me see big bro, he has to see this kid immediately!'' Kirabi argued with the Raikage tower guards. One of the chūnin was giving him a particularly hard time and was getting on his nerves. ''You're just going to get an ass kicking if you don't let me through, Jei.''

Jei, another black-skinned Kumo chūnin, shook his bald head, ''No can do, Kirabi-sama, the Raikage-sama is finishing up with the Ryūsa clan head- hey!''

Kirabi yanked Jei a foot off the ground and threw the chūnin aside, ''Let's go,'' he said to Naruto who stood behind him with a pleased grin. The other chūnin did not dare to attempt to get in their way, too intimidated to even think of crossing Kirabi. Kirabi wasn't known to be a man to use force to get to his destination, but if he did, it was best to just shut the hell up and pray he wasn't going to take his frustration out on you next.

They climbed the long white marble steps of the Raikage tower. Naruto looked back and looked in awe at the view below. The Raikage tower was a beautiful building and was built on the highest part of the mountain village thus it looked over the whole village. Kumo was _much_ bigger than Naruto imagined.

''You coming?''

Snapping out of his daze, he caught up with Kirabi. The black jinchūriki led them into the building, climbed twelve stairs and they finally arrived. They heard raised voices and Kirabi sighed.

''My brother and the council don't get along,'' he explained, ''They've been trying to remove him since the day he got the position as Raikage, that was two years ago.''

''And let me tell you another thing!'' a voice boomed, Naruto presumed it was the Raikage, ''I am not going to give some arrogant dicks like you any more special treatment if I can help it! Land taxes stay the fucking same, now get out of my fucking office you fucking weasel!''

Another raised voice shouted in reply, ''We will see that in the council meeting then, Raikage-sama, but you shall not like the outcome!''

''Yeah, go run to the other fools that haven't done a missions since fuck knows when!'' the Raikage shouted back. ''Go on, run home and have your clan elders bitch at you!''

Just when the duo reached the office, the doors flew open and an enraged man in fine silk robes stormed out. Naruto didn't get a chance to look at him.

''Kirabi! Why are you back so early and-'' the Raikage cut himself off, seeing the boy next Kirabi looking at the Raikage with an mixture of fear, awe and admiration. ''Who's this?'' the Raikage asked once more, but with a softer tone.

''What, no 'hello' or a hugs'' Kirabi grinned, entering the office and sitting down in front of the Raikage's desk with a laid back posture. Naruto jumped on the chair next to his. ''This is Uzumaki Naruto. He's an-''

''Aha, I know who this is,'' the Raikage cut off Kirabi, ''This is the nine tails' jinchūriki_,_ right?''

''Yeah, how did you know that?'' Kirabi asked.

''There's been rumours all over the place,'' the Raikage said, ''About an Uzumaki kid with the power of the nine tailed fox...'' the Raikage trailed off, as though he meant to say more. For a moment the Raikage looked at Naruto as though he had met him before…

''Funny,'' Kirabi laughed, ''I never heard of that gossip.''

''So,'' the Raikage said, cutting to the point, ''You want me to accept another troublemaker in the village? We got you and Yugito already.''

''There are others?'' Naruto jumped up in his seat with an excited glint in his eyes, ''You mean more like me and Kirabi?''

'Such disrespect,' the Raikage grunted, 'But what can I expect if he's been under Kirabi's influence longer than a day?'

''Bro,'' Kirabi ignored the blond jinchūriki, ''I want to train the boy to use his powers.''

''No.''

Taken back by the abrupt answer, Kirabi looked at his brother and repeated, ''No?''

''No,'' the Raikage firmly repeated.

''Why?'' Kirabi demanded standing up and slamming his hands on his brother's desk. ''Why can't I teach the boy? He's a good kid and-''

''Could also be a spy,'' his brother cut off, ''Why waste resources training our enemy?''

''He ran away from home for reasons you should know and understand,'' Kirabi argued fiercely, ''He agreed to become a Kumo shinobi, he's agreed to be a protector of this village just like me and Yugito!''

The Raikage stared into his brother's eyes, shining with determination behind his shades. ''Alright,'' he gave in, ''But he'll be on probation and under heavily guard. I won't be able to send him on any missions close to Konoha for a while in case in they recognize him.''

''That's fine, I'll teach him myself and he isn't the ungrateful kind. He'll come to love this place and he'll do everything he can to protect it.''

The Raikage sighed, ''You're putting your big brother in a rough place. The council is already looking to kick my ass out of the tower. Just stay out of trouble- the both of you.''

''I promise nothing!'' Kirabi fist-pumped. He turned around and grabbed Naruto by the collar of his shirt yanked him off the seat and dragged the child with him. As they left, Naruto clapped his hands together and made a respectful bow to Raikage, who just chuckled at the idiocy.

-ooo-

(Six Years Later: Kumogakure Academy for Shinobi Arts - Naruto Aged: 13)

Graduation day.

Naruto had been looking forward to this day ever since he was enrolled into the Kumogakure Academy for Shinobi Arts. This day would be a landmark in his career as a shinobi and he couldn't be happier. In actual fact, Naruto could have graduated years ago, he was certainly skilled enough, but Kirabi never consented to the idea, not even for a second did he consider allowing Naruto to miss out on connecting with his peers. The same went for the blonde's less-than-amiable counterpart, Nii Yugito.

Yugito was the jinchūriki of the Nibi no Bakeneko and she had been brought to Kumogakure a few months before Naruto. Naruto didn't know what her circumstances were, but from her disposition and Kirabi's implications, she had lost control of the Nibi as a child and had done something horrible. Yugito originally hailed from a small allied village from Yu no Kuni (Hot Spring Country) and that was all she had ever revealed to Naruto about her past. Though the two trained together under Kirabi most of the time, they certainly did not see eye-to-eye. Unlike Naruto, who was laidback and rather friendly, Yugito was an impassive, straight by the book type of shinobi who believed strictly in following and upholding all shinobi codes and regulations, values she would almost always impose on Naruto whenever he acted out of line. For his part, Naruto believed Yugito to be arrogant and too bossy to get along with, hence why the two never became friends. That, and because Yugito was a prodigy by genius standards and excelled quicker than Naruto did, in all shinobi arts but one: taijutsu.

Taijutsu was Naruto's pride and joy. He loved ninjutsu- pretty much any form of jutsu aside from genjutsu, but taijutsu was the single one art nobody his year could beat him in, aside from _maybe_ Yugito. Naruto's skills in taijutsu had been cultivated and perfected from years of fighting Kirabi, one of Kumo's strongest shinobi and the experience had helped. Sure, he broke a few bones here and there in process but what he got in return was worth it. Kirabi had estimated he could be jōnin-level in taijutsu if he kept it up, and Naruto had, always coming out on top in any physical confrontation class taught in the academy, hence why today during the kenjutsu examination he could practically feel the apprehension of his classmates.

Naruto was brought out of his musing by a nudge from fellow student, Sawada Tokashiji, a short-of-stature student he got along with rather fine. Trudging up a few steps, the next pair were called for their kenjutsu examination.

"Next, Kobayashi Nobori versus Seido Hari!"

Naruto cupped his mouth and shouted, "Kick his ass, Hari!".

-ooo-

(The Next Day: Mt. Unraikyō)

''Come on, show some back bone!'' Kirabi threw a punch meant for Naruto that crushed a tree easily instead, ripping through it like a hot knife through butter. The jōnin turned and went to grab the genin but missed. ''You can run, but can you fight?''

Naruto landed in a crouch, lodging two kunai blades in the earth to slow his skid. They'd been training for two hours straight with no breaks. He was near his limit.

''Shut up!'' Naruto shouted back, charging at the jōnin with his blades in front of him in a defensive hold. He jumped in the air, somersaulted and heel dropped Kirabi on the left shoulder. The Kumo jōnin didn't even flinch and delivered and open hand palm strike back. Naruto flew into a tree, cursing his teacher under his breath.

''What was that?'' Kirabi goaded, mockingly cupping his ear and feigning hearing problems. ''You hatin' on tha masta' cuz you're not a…,'' the jōnin rubbed his chin momentarily before snapping his finger. ''You hatin' on tha' masta' cuz you got sent flying and now your bitch ass be cryin'!''

''That doesn't even make sense! I'm not even crying!'' Naruto shouted at him, throwing a dozen of kunai blades at Kirabi, ''You 'raps' suck, just face it!''

Disgruntled, Kirabi smacked away the barrage of projectiles and held his fist up in an angry manner. ''What was that, boy? You want an ass whoopin' deluxe today? Ya midget!''

''Bring it on!''

Student and master charged each other. Kirabi open his arm, preparing to crush Naruto in one of his signature bear hugs, but Naruto slid through legs and pulled down the jōnin's pants, revealing white heart-print boxers. Naruto fished out his camera from his pouch and quickly took a few pictures of Kirabi with his pants down, ridiculously hopping about as he tried to stop him.

''You midget bastard!'' Kirabi shouted, ''Give me that camera, right now!'' he roared, pulling up his trouser and chasing his student off the training grounds.

''These are going to be spread all over the village!'' Naruto shouted, speeding up.

''I'mma kill you, Uzumaki!''

''Try to catch me first!''

Kirabi shouted profanities at the genin graduate, 'The little bastards running to the village and I ain't allowed to use any techniques in there. That clever little punk!'

…

Naruto laughed hysterically, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, with an enraged Kirabi behind him.

''I'm going to cut you up, boy!'' Kirabi shouted, catching up with Naruto.

Naruto laughed, ''That's if you're actually going to catch me!''

With a burst of speed, Kirabi jumped in front of him, his arms wide and tackled Naruto, pinning the blond on a rooftop below. ''Haha! Not so funny now, huh?''

Naruto grinned, a twisted look on his face. ''Actually, this is so funny since you didn't notice me slip away.''

''What?''

_Poof!_

The Naruto he caught turned out to be a clone. Cursing, Kirabi launched himself of the rooftop, utilizing lightning chakra. ''Screw it! I'd rather have another lecture than being humiliated like this!''

….

A half a mile away, Naruto landed in front of the Raikage's tower and came to a stop, resting his hands on his knees. ''I mus- must've lost him,'' he panted. ''Stu- stupid Kirabi-teme.''

''BRAT!''

Naruto looked up to the sky to see Kirabi coming down, one of his seven blades in his hands.

''Shit!'' was all Naruto could say before he was crushed under his sensei's weight.

A quick and brutal beating later Naruto got to his feet and held his head. ''That hurt!'' Naruto complained, nursing the bump on his head.

''Now let that be a lesson, boy,'' Kirabi said, ''Ya can't defeat the undefeated, ya can't outrun the lightning and ya definitely can't-''

''Okay, I get it!'' Naruto cut off his sensei, earning himself another punch in the head. ''WHY?'' Naruto rolled over the floor, fighting back the tears in corners of his eyes and gritted his teeth, cursing his sensei.

''Ya need to learn respect, boy!''

''What's going on here?'' a loud voice demanded.

Looking to their left, they saw the Raikage walk down the stairs of the Raikage tower. The Raikage, or the 'bigger version of Kirabi-teme' as Naruto had once put in, scowled at the pair, crossing his arms over his chest and shaking his head. "It's you two jokers again!"

''Yo, big bro what's da' dealio?'' Kirabi made some hand motions both Naruto and his elder brothers found_ embarrassing_ to watch. The Hachibi jinchūriki continued undisturbed with his rhymes that were found in poor taste.

''Raikage-sama!'' Naruto said with comical tears, clinging on to the Raikage's leg. "Save me!"

''I said, what's going on here?'' the Raikage demanded once again, eyeballing his brother and shaking his leg to remove the blond nuisance. ''What's all this ruckus about this time?''

''He hit me!'' Naruto said, childishly pointing at Kirabi, who pointed back.

''He took a picture ma' draws!''

''But he hit me!''

''Ma draws, man! Ma draws!''

''ENOUGH!'' the Raikage shouted. ''Kirabi, there's a jōnin meeting in twenty minutes, go prepare yourself! This has to be third fucking time I reminded you.''

''Aight!''

''And stop using that ridiculous language!'' the Raikage added as his sibling took off. ''And you!'' The Raikage turned to Naruto, ''You blonde little nuisance motherfucker, get out of here or I'll find you some nice D rank missions to do, got-''

Naruto had already taken off at the words ''D rank''.

''Stupid brat, givin' me problems every day!'' the Raikage mumbled. ''What are you looking at?'' he shouted at a staring chūnin who immediately faced the other direction. ''Ugh, I need a drink,'' the idea of Naruto's undoubted revenge through pranks in the near future got another heavy sigh out of the Raikage, "A strong drink."

-ooo-

Naruto walked down the roads of the village with his hands in his pockets, grinning to himself. He had sent a clone with the camera footage to his apartment. By tomorrow, everyone would see them and have a good laugh at his sensei's expense. 'A little humiliation will teach him to mess with me!'

''Yo, Naruto!''

Naruto turned around, recognizing his friend than made his way to him. ''Yo, Hari!''

Seido Hari was a slim, thirteen year old genin much like Naruto and was Naruto's best friend, aside from Kirabi. Hari was wearing green-grayish cargo shorts, a black shirt and a black bandanna that partly covered his left eye. He had spiky hair, wore his headband on his left bicep and white ninja-to on his back, along with all other standard ninja equipment.

''Yo, what are you doing here?'' Naruto asked stuffing his hands in his pockets as Hari caught up to him,

Hari placed his hands behind his head, grinning, ''I just came back from the academy - we're on the same team!''

''Oh yeah, we were supposed to pick up our team info today, huh?'' Naruto remembered. ''I forgot about that. Who else is our team?''

''Yugito,'' Hari said with a grimace.

''Great!" Naruto said sarcastically. "Why do we get have get here? She's so damn annoying.''

''Our sensei?''

Hari grinned, ''Yotsuki Kirabi-sama.''

Naruto shrugged to hide his relief, though he had always expected to end up with Kirabi as his official sensei considering he had been under his tutelage for over six years. ''That's good. It's Yugito who's the problem.''

Hari nodded, ''I know, she is such an elitist. Always on about regulations, codes of conducts and rules.'' The pair continued their discussion as they walked down the road to their apartments

''See ya,'' Hari said a few minutes later as he turned to go right. Naruto merely held up his hand and made his way to his apartment.

Hadn't time gone by quick, he wondered. He could clearly remember the day he came to Kumogakure. He instantly fell in love with the village hidden amongst the clouds. It had been a weird feeling at first, to walk down the streets without being met with scorn or have something chucked at him but he soon grew used to it and found people to bond with.

After that, training had begun and he was enrolled into the Kumogakure shinobi academy. Outside of the basics he was taught in the academy, Kirabi taught him and Yugito, much to Naruto's dismay, advanced shinobi techniques mostly in chakra control and taijutsu.

-ooo-

(Kirabi & Naruto's Apartment)

Naruto closed the door behind him and went to the living room, calling, ''You home, Kirabi?'' when he remember the jōnin was at a meeting. He sighed, taking of his training clothes. The weighted clothes made his neck and shoulder ache sometimes.

The blond went for a quick shower and changed into a new set of clothes; a pair of black cargo shorts with orange trims, a black shinobi t-shirt and a black, sleeveless combat jacked with a lot of pockets. Naruto dropped himself on the couch, flicking on the TV and grinned. His favourite anime was on and he didn't have a lot of time to watch it.

''And here I thought you were maturing a little bit,'' a feminine voice said from behind.

Naruto shifted slightly to look at the open window, pulled an immature face and turned his attention back to the TV. Perched on the windowsill was a beautiful blond girl with blue eyes clad in light purple shinobi garb. She wore a tight shirt that left her tummy revealed, baggy shinobi pants and a white sash around her slim waist. ''What do you want, Yugito?''

''I came here to tell you -''

''We're on the same team, I know,'' Naruto cut her off, making it abundantly clear he wasn't interested in speaking to her as he got and approached her. ''Anything else?''

Yugito scoffed, ''So much for a civilized conversation. I only came here because the teachers at the academy said you didn't show up to get your team roster. How undisciplined. You're a Kumo shinobi now, you must be on time for all -''

''See ya later, neko-chan,'' Naruto said pushing her off the sill, ''Don't forget to never come back.'' Yugito twisted in the air with impressive agility and landed on all fours the ground and glared up to Naruto, who lazily waved at her. ''Bye!'' he shouted once more before closing the window and returning to his TV program.

''Bitch,'' he mumbled to himself.

When he thought about it, Naruto couldn't quite remember what had really set off their feud. Naruto and Yugito had never really gotten along. Initially they had no problems, but it soon became clear Yugito was a natural at being a jinchūriki unlike Naruto who found it much more difficult to work with the Kyūbi. Though it was unfair to shove the blame on her, Yugito had often made a point out of belittling Naruto over his failures and the one time she suggested Kirabi find a new host, the implications had gotten Naruto so enraged it got violent and the two had to be separated and Yugito now lived a few doors down.

One thing was for sure, this wasn't going to be easy.

* * *

**_Author's Notes_**

A 'thank you' goes out to all the readers who left me a review for the first chapter. Criticisms and comments are appreciated and welcomed!

Enjoy!

…

**Jutsu Used:**

_(Jutsu: Raikō Jōshō - Lightning Climb!) - D rank, supplementary, short to mid range. The lightning climb technique is an old technique developed by Kumo shinobi to climb obstacles much faster by utilizing lightning chakra. The more chakra channelled, the faster the user is propelled up in the sky. However, this technique is only for short use and very taxing on chakra. Rapid use can result into torn muscles and chakra depletion - if not monitored carefully._


	3. The Village of Ritoru Haaku

**Kumogakure Ninja**

Posted: 16-09-09

Updated 28-06-11

* * *

CH3: The Village of Ritoru Haaku

* * *

(Three Months Later: Kumogakure Training Ground Eleven)

Shinobi life turned out to be very different from what Naruto expected. It wasn't as exciting to be a genin as he had hoped it would be. The only missions they were authorized to do so far were mere D-rank missions that could be completed by even a first year academy student. Naruto spent most of his time training with Hari to hone his skills for the day they finally got a C-rank mission.

Currently the two were going at in an intense taijutsu match that had been going on for well over thirty minutes by now. This match was more intense than usual for the stakes were higher today than they ever were before.

Naruto jumped over Hari's palm strike and landed in a crouch, flooring his opponent with a kick behind the knees as he did so. Hari swore and rolled over the ground to dodge one Naruto's notoriously vicious heel drops and scrabbled to his feet, turning the moment on Naruto by bull-tackling him into the tree behind him and following up with a solid punch to the cheek.

Naruto quickly got up and took his stance and danced around lightly as he spat out some blood. ''You know what happens if you lose, right?''

''Yeah,'' Hari gulped almost fearfully with a sense of dread at the prospect of losing this fight. ''No way in hell am I going to pay off Kirabi-sensei's tab. That guy drinks sake by barrel!''

''I'm not going to lose all the money I made with those shitty D-ranks either!'' Naruto charged Hari again and initiated a fierce hand-to-hand battle.

The two traded powerful blows and though Hari was strong, he simply couldn't keep up with Naruto's speed and agility and soon found his legs kicked out from under him and a heel stopped inches away from his nose as Naruto stood over him victoriously with a grin.

"Damn it."

…

''Damn it.'' Hari counted the few left over ryō bills in his near empty wallet as they left the bar Kirabi usually frequented. ''You fight dirty, you know right? I'm pretty that counts as cheating.''

Naruto rubbed a finger under his nose, grinning deviously, ''There's no such thing as cheating in the shinobi world, Hari. No such thing!''

''Oh, so you _do_ know a little bit of the shinobi world.'' Yugito appeared by them, landing in a crouched position on a rooftop close to the pair. ''And here I was thinking you couldn't be any more a failure of a shinobi.''

Naruto groaned, not bothering to turn back and look up. ''What the hell do you want, Yugito?''

''I was sent by Kirabi-sensei to get you. We've got a mission. Meet us at the Raikage Tower in fifteen minutes. ''Yugito promptly disappeared with a puff of smoke.

"Show off,'' Naruto and Hari said simultaneously.

-ooo-

(Raikage Tower)

''Your mission is to deliver the annual quota to the fishermen village Ritoru Haaku,'' a staff chūnin briefed the team. ''We have not received a reply from the mayor and the messenger bird we sent nearly a month ago has failed to return. Your secondary objectives are to inspect the village and submit a report upon returning. This is a C-ranked mission, pack for a minimum of seven days. Dismissed.''

Naruto shoved his hands in his pockets. ''I'll go get my stuff.''

Kirabi looked at the clock in the mission hall. ''Meet up at the southern elevators in one hour. If you're late, you're carrying all the bags.'' Instantly, his pupils took off to their homes to collect their equipment. Kirabi proceeded to climb a few stairs and entered his brother's office.

_(AN: Ritoru Haaku – Japanese for 'little catch' is a small village in the Fishermen Islands, under the protection of Kumo that is surrounded by rivers that lead to the sea. Much mystery surrounds this village and its neighbouring islands.)_

"You cleared us for an mission out of the village already?" Kirabi asked his older brother as he took a seat, eyeing his brother for any signs of worry. The Raikage wouldn't openly admit it but over the years he had developed a bond with Naruto and could even go as far as saying he was like another younger brother or a nephew.

"Are you sure about this, big bro?"

''Just go,'' the Raikage said, seemingly bothered by something. ''And hurry back, these kids need training for the upcoming Chūnin Exams in Konoha.''

''You're sending teams to Konoha?'' Kirabi turned once again with an eyebrow raised so high it was visible over his shades. "Now that's surprising, bro. Are you sure it's coo' considering Naruto's past?"

''Yes, now get going!'' the Raikage barked spinning his chair to look out of his window.

''Aight, you don't hav' to be frontin' on me, yo!'' Kirabi quickly ran out of the office, narrowly avoiding a desk lamp his older brother hurled at him.

''Younger brothers,'' the Raikage groaned out loud as he poured himself a drink, turning to the picture of a beautiful lady on his desk, ''If only I knew how you handled us, mother.''

…

Naruto looked sourly at Yugito as they stood on the descending elevator. 'Why did she have to be in my team again?' he wondered.

Yugito caught Naruto's stair and stared back impassively, as if to say, ''I don't care what you're thinking, you're below me anyway.'' Naruto looked away, not wanting to blink first. It was stupid to try to win a staring contest against a jinchūriki with a _cat_ demon in her.

Despite feeling anxious about his first mission away from Kumo, he felt different somehow. As if he had grown ten inches. Here he was, going out on a C-ranked mission with his team, leaving the village for the first time in six years. He was glad Kirabi was his sensei. He wouldn't have wanted to experience this for the first time without his closest friend. Naruto looked at his other best friend, Hari. The teen looked as anxious as he did, yet he had an eager expression on him.

Naruto finally glanced back to Yugito, unsurprised to find her as impassive as ever without a single emotion on her dispassionate exterior. Naruto shook his head, what was wrong with this girl? He didn't expect her to be carrying her emotions on her sleeves but what in the world had happened to her to make her so icy?

''How are you guys feeling about first C-ranked mission?'' Kirabi asked, adjusting his seven swords as they continued do descend the enormous mountain upon which Kumogakure had been settled for years. ''The odds are we probably won't be facing any shinobi on the way there but there's plenty of other scum out there.''

Naruto was anxious but confident. ''I feel fine, great even. It's the first time I've left Kumo in six years but something tells me we're going to be alright.''

''I feel the same way.'' Hari joined in.

''No low life will best me in combat,'' Yugito remarked, to which Kirabi shook his head.

''Don't presume bandits don't know jutsu. They may not know ninjutsu - which is the way we refer to it, but they can still be able to manipulate chakra and use their own techniques. Like the samurai in the north and the east,'' Kirabi explained, to which the team nodded.

Half an hour later, they finally reached the main grounds. They had taken one of the shinobi elevators and at the exit point there were a few dozen shinobi stationed at the registry counter.

''Have a good one!'' a chūnin said as they walked past, ''Watch out though! We've had some reports of bandits being sighted a couple of miles from here. Those bastards are sneakier than shinobi if they have to be!''

-ooo-

(Five Days Later)

''Finally!'' Naruto shouted as they reached the outskirts of the village. The two day trip had seemed so much longer. ''What a dump!'' Naruto added as soon as he noticed the state the village was in.

Hari nodded, ''I imagined this village to be quite wealthy. They are under the protection of Kumo, which should've scared away low lives and be good for business.''

Naruto placed his hands in his pockets, ''Whatever, I just hope they got a nice place we could stay. I can go for a nice, hot shower and a comfy bed.''

''Maybe,'' Hari scratched his cheek, ''It isn't as bad as it looks, and I could really go for some real food.''

Kirabi adjusted his shades. They stood on a tall hill that looked down upon the village. Everything seemed normal from what he could see, but his gut told him something was wrong. ''Kiddies, stay alert. Something tells me that village has seen better days.''

''You've never been here, sensei?'' Yugito asked.

Kirabi shook his head, ''I never travelled this far to the south. But let's just check it out.''

…

As they got closer to the village, they noticed the horrible state it was in. The village had recently been raid. Houses were collapsed and still burning, bodies lay to the side of the road mangled, cut and dismembered, children were crying - the state of the once prosperous fishermen village was truly horrible.

''Stay behind me,'' Kirabi ordered, as they made their way through the packs of moaning villagers.

''Why did you arrive _now_ and not when they were attacking us?'' a woman screamed, ''They killed my husband and sons!''

''Are you all Kumo deems us to deserve? A bunch of snot nosed kids?'' another villager shouted with his fist waving in anger.

Kirabi ignored their calls, as did Yugito and Hari, but Naruto had a far harder time coping with the anguished looks on their faces. He didn't know why, but seeing the villagers in such sorrow filled him with anger. He stopped to look at a woman on the ground, shielding her baby from the wind and feeding her child some of the edible things she could find. Naruto reached into his pouch and took out a handful of ration bars and crouched next to the woman and gave her the nutritious bars. The woman took them in shaking hands, saying in an even shakier voice, ''Thank you.''

''Take care of your kid,'' he said before catching up his team.

This act of kindness did not go unseen by Yugito, who gave him a curious look when he caught up.

''What are you looking at?'' Naruto demanded rudely, catching her eye.

''Nothing,'' the female jinchūriki replied.

Naruto frowned, stuffing his fists in his pockets. He felt so angry and the urge to help these people was so great, he could barely fight of the desire to find the men who did this and punish them. Kirabi led them to the village hall, where he knew he would find the village leader. He pushed open the damaged and partly burned double doors, his team followed in silence. The city hall was full of heavily wounded men, women and children. Naruto felt sick.

''Are you Hatorri-san?'' Kirabi asked, unusual respectful to an old man tending to the wounds of a softly crying child.

Hattori merely nodded without looking up as his full attention was on treating his patient.

''Can you tell us what happened, Hattori-san?'' Hattori shook his head prompting Kirabi sigh. ''Is there a reason why you can't tell us?''

Hattori finally looked up, revealing his grimy white bearded face that bared many fresh scars.

''He can't speak,'' a teenage girl said, walking up to the team, ''They cut out his tongue because he didn't shut up.''

The purple haired girl with brown eyes and smooth, yet grimy, skin scoffed. She must've been beautiful if she wasn't wearing a grimy red kimono that definitely had seen better days and didn't look like she hadn't had a shower in weeks. ''That's what you get for defying the Akumu Shokō.''

''What did you say?'' Naruto asked angrily, grabbing the girl by the collar, despite the fact she was much at least ten inches taller than him. ''Say that again!''

The girl just smirked at him, ''You going to hit me? Then do it,'' she goaded. Naruto didn't like her coy smile and resisted the urge to comply with her goading but let her go.

''That's enough, Emiko!'' A man dressed in remnants of the village militia uniform, who looked to be in this forties approached them. ''If you got enough time to mess around with the Kumo shinobi, you have enough time to look after the children!''

''Fine,'' Emiko said, as Naruto let her go but still glared at her. ''I'll look after the cry babies.''

''Don't take too much food with you!'' Kungo shouted after her before turning to the shinobi team.

''So, what's her story?'' Hari asked the man who introduced himself as Kungo.

''Emiko, she's…'' he hesitated with an exasperated sigh, ''… changed a lot. She used to be such a lively girl... until her parents were murdered in the attack by the Akumu Shokō.''

''So the Akumu Shokō were here after all,'' Kirabi said, rubbing his chin, ''That complicates things.''

''They took all of our supplies and left. We barely have enough to feed the children. Some of us haven't eaten in days. The last time they were here was two weeks ago when they killed all of our cattle. We didn't expect Kumo to send reinforcement so late, but I guess it's going to be okay now that you guys are here.''

''Kirabi-sensei, are we ready to handle shinobi of that calibre?'' Yugito inquired, taking out her bingo book and showing a picture of the two. The older of the brothers was Seiichi, a handsome blond with an impressive scar going vertically over his right eye. The younger brother was Shinji, also a handsome blond haired man with a smooth face. The brothers had identical black orbs for eyes and eerie smiles on their faces.

''These guys are out of your league, but I can handle them. I'll send word for reinforcements to be on safe side though,'' Kirabi said to Yugito before turning to Kungo. ''My pupils are tired, if you can point us a place where we could rest, we'd be quite grateful.''

Kungo nodded. ''Yes, of course, please follow. Should we wait for your last team member?'' Kungo asked as they turned around to find Naruto gone.

''Damn it,'' Hari cursed.

Kirabi face-palmed. "Oh boy."

"I'll go look for him," Yugito said, ''I'll bring him back here, sensei.

''Yeah, thanks.''

-ooo-

Naruto leaned against the wall, a frown on his face, his anger swirling in a violent vortex within his heart. The cries of the children shook his very soul. He had forgotten how cruel life could be, having hurried the memories deep within his mind.

_''Come here, brat!''_

_"Die, demon!"_

_"Just die! Why did you have to live?"_

Naruto shook his head, someone caught his eye. It was Emiko, the girl who had lost her parents in the attack, according to Kungo. Naruto pushed himself of the wall and followed her, curious to where she was going and why she looked so suspicious.

The way she walked, Naruto knew she was up to something. She kept looking behind her and if it weren't for the fact Naruto could hide amongst the masses easy, she would've spotted him. She took a turn to left, entering an ally. Naruto stood still for a second but then decided to press onwards. He walked into the small ally way, it was dark and he could barely see Emiko's silhouette. The raven haired teen opened a door at the far end of the ally, apparently not noticing Naruto, and closed it carefully behind her.

''Naruto!'' a voice hissed behind him, causing him to jump and turn around with two blades in his hands.

''What?'' he hissed back at Yugito, sliding his kunai blades in his holster, ''Why are you following me?'' he whispered.

Yugito raised an eyebrow at his jumpiness. ''I came to get you, fool,'' she explained, ''Kirabi-sensei and Hari are going to set up our camp and call in support.''

''Yeah, well, I'll be there in a second!'' Naruto hissed in whispers, ''Just get out of here!''

Yugito shook her head, ''I was told to bring you -''

''Whose there?'' Emiko demanded, opening the door, only to find the ally way abandoned. She looked around for a bit and then closed the door behind her again.

Yugito looked down and gave Naruto a questioning look. She had jumped and he jumped after her and they ended up with Naruto having his arms around her waist and his cheek on her bare tummy. Naruto realizing their position quickly let go and landed silently in a crouch. Yugito landed next to him.

''Lower you voice next time,'' Yugito told him.

Naruto slapped his forehead and went to the door and placed his ear on it. He could hear voices.

_''Who was it, Emiko-neechan?'' _he heard several young voices ask.

_"No one, just a cat, I think."_ Emiko's voice said, _"Now eat up your food. There might not be more for some time."_

_"Aren't you going to eat?"_ a young girl's voice asked.

_"No, I'm not hungry.''_

Naruto stepped back. She was bringing those kids food and he doubted she was allowed to do it, with her attempt to silently disappear in the crowd of hungry villagers. The blond swallowed thickly and looked to Yugito, who stared impassively back.

''Come here,'' she ordered him.

He was not up for a debate and closed into her and she grabbed his hand as they Shunshined away.

…

''Can't we do anything to help these people?'' Naruto pleaded with Kirabi. ''They're starving and they're sick and they're-''

''I know that, Naruto but we have to receive further instructions first.'' It was one of the rare occasions Kirabi was serious. ''We can't request emergency supplies without the agreement of the Raikage and the council and that can take a while.''

''Fine! Then I'll help these people my way!'' Naruto said angrily, he said, turning around and storming off.

''Don't do anything stupid!'' Kirabi shouted after him, but Naruto was already gone prompting Kirabi to sigh. 'That kid is too attuned to misery. But perhaps it's only natural, considering what he's been through.'

Hari stood up and looked to Yugito, ''Let's keep an eye on him, in case he does something stupid.''

Yugito shook her head, ''No, you go,'' she spoke with her usual impassive tone. ''I will stay with Kirabi-sensei and do what is within my _orders._''

Hari scowled at her. ''Suit yourself,'' he said, picking up his backpack and running off in the direction Naruto went.

…

''Yo,'' Hari greeted, landing in a crouch position, on a tree branch near Naruto, who had stripped to his boxers and summoned a dozen shadow clones.

''Hey,'' Naruto said keeping his eyes on his clones, ''What are you doing here, Hari?''

''I came to help you out, idiot,'' Hari said, jumping out of the tree and taking of his backpack, shirt, pouches and holsters. ''That's what friends are for, right?'' the teen said, ruffling his gravity defying brown hair.

Naruto turned to him with a grin. ''Yeah...''

''So, why are we standing shirtless again?'' Hari asked. ''I'm assuming you've got a plan- you do have a plan, right?''

Naruto nodded. ''This river is full of fish, but it's been taken as those Akumu brothers' territory. They're too scared to come here and fish-''

''Wait,'' Hari cut him off. ''You do know we can get killed, right? The Akumu Shokō aren't a joke, Naruto. They're psychopath killers.''

''People are dying whether it's by their hand or not,'' Naruto countered fiercely. ''I'm going to catch a huge amount of fish in a couple of minutes, and if I'm lucky, we won't get caught.''

''Whatever it is you're going to do, you're sure as hell not going to do it without me. We're team mates now.''

Naruto grinned and walked to edge of the river, his clones standing behind him. He crouched and closed his eyes, channelling lightning chakra into his finger tips. He flinched, accidentally zapping himself, but pressed on. If Kirabi could literally do this while sleeping, he should at least be able to do this little trick while concentrating. Naruto grinned, finding his centre of control with his cackling fingers and slowly placed it the water.

His clones emulated him.

The river water began to bubble and slowly, as he increased the chakra output, more and more dead fish emerged. Naruto managed to do this for a minute, before giving in and losing control. The loss of control on lightning chakra backfired and sent him flying five feet back, lying on his bare back with a deep, singing wound on his chest.

_ZAP!_

''Naruto!'' Hari shouted, rushing over to his friend. He took a look at the blonde's wound and felt his stomach churn. The flesh had gone black-greyish and the blood had nearly immediately dried up with the blast impact. ''Fuck!'' Hari cursed, ''Hang in there, I'll -''

''Get the food, those people need to eat..." Naruto mumbled his eyes before passing out.

Hari nodded, carefully placing the blond down and rushing into the river with the other clones and collecting the fish.

-ooo-

(Across the River…)

''Look at that!'' an overweight samurai said, looking through the binoculars in his hands. ''Two kiddies just fried the river!''

''What are you on about?'' another samurai asked. ''You've been hitting the sake early again, haven't you?''

''No!'' the first protested, shoving the binoculars in to his friends hand, ''Take a look!''

With a scoff the second bandit looked through the binoculars and gasped, nearly dropping it. ''The blond one made clones and they're solid!''

''I told you!''

''We need to tell the boss!''

-ooo-

''Of all the stupid things you did,'' Yugito began to lecture as Hari dragged in Naruto inside.

''Just let it go, alright?'' Hari cut her off, helping Naruto on the ground. ''Instead of lecturing us, how about you help us out?''

Yugito scowled. ''I'm not getting involved in this foolishness,'' she said before swiftly turning around, exiting the tent.

''You were right, Naruto,'' Hari said to his unconscious friend as he laid him out on his futon. ''She really is a bitch.''

They were lucky Kirabi wasn't around; he would've surely kicked their asses for messing with lightning chakra. Especially when they didn't have any prior experience with it. Naruto shivered. Hari quickly exited the tent and grabbed his injured friend's clothes. The clones had stacked up the fish in neat piles. Hari went back inside and dressed his team-mate. To his surprise the wound had already started to heal.

Naruto's eyes snapped open and he took a deep breath clutching his wound. ''Fuck!'' the blond cursed repeatedly. ''It hurts!''

''No shit!'' Hari said, his eyes wide open, ''How the hell are you up? You just electrocuted yourself with lightning!''

Naruto quickly looked at the wound and then Hari. '… shit!'

''Well?'' Hari asked.

''Well what?''

''Are you going to tell me how the hell you healed so fast?''

Naruto took on a serious expression, ''I'll tell you later, when we're not on a mission and I can fully explain it.''

''Is it a jutsu?'' Hari asked confused.

''Yeah!'' Naruto said, capitalizing on the open excuse, ''It's a secret healing jutsu I read up ages ago. It's really complex. I'll tell you how to do it when we're back in Kumo.''

''Sure,'' Hari said with a strange look about him. ''Now that you're up again, we might as well distribute the fish, right?''

''Yeah, the fish!'' Naruto said, putting on his t-shirt. ''Let's bring those the city hall. We must have at least three per villager, maybe more.''

Hari smiled and followed Naruto outside of the tent and grabbed two stacks of fish in self made nets of leaves.

-ooo-

''Alright, don't push!'' Naruto shouted as he gave another old lady smoked fish on a leaf. ''There's enough for everyone, alright?''

The pair had just brought the fish to the city hall and started cooking them when hungry villagers showed up. They had been dishing out fish for over thirty minutes now. Clones were running all over the place.

''Ey, don't cut in line! You'll get your fish!'' Naruto shouted at a shameless bald man who had pushed aside a mother and her daughter. ''Here,'' he said to the mother and child, handing them two big fat salmons. ''Eat up and rest.''

It took the pair, even with Naruto's clones running around the place, nearly an hour to feed everyone at least three fishes. As this was going on in the town centre, Yugito, who stood on a nearby rooftop, scoffed, turning around and disappeared with a swift Shunshin.

…

''Man, I am beat!'' Naruto said, letting himself drop on the ground. ''Who knew there were that many villagers in this place?''

Hari nodded. ''We could try and remove the rocks in the river mouth tomorrow. We can fish all we want but they need water too.''

''Tomorrow,'' Naruto said, lying down with his arms spread, ''Who knew a fisherman had such a hard job?'' he said with a laugh.

Kirabi suddenly appeared in front of the two by Shunshin. ''Yo,'' he greeted, ''Been busy, I see,'' he said, looking at the large remains of fire, sticks and fish bones.

''Where the hell were you all day?''

''I was waiting for the messenger bird to come from Kumo, so I could send answer back about the current state of the village,'' Kirabi said, ''The Akumu Shokō were smarter than we though. They killed all messenger birds in this dump so they couldn't contact us.''

''So, did you ask for assistance, Kirabi-sensei?'' Hari asked, getting up and dusting off his shorts.

''I can ask for emergency supplies when we get word back from the village,'' Kirabi said, ''Where's Yugito? You guys didn't get in a fight did you?''

''Hmph,'' Naruto got up. ''She's not worth the effort.''

''Is that so?'' Yugito said appearing behind him. ''You've got quite the big mouth, Uzumaki.''

Naruto successfully resisted the urge to jump and turned around, giving her lazy eyes.

Yugito just stared back impassively till Naruto had to blink and looked away. ''What are we to do now, Kirabi-sensei?''

''Hmm,'' Kirabi rubbed his chin. ''They should get some rest. These two look like they've just ran a marathon but you and me can go on scout patrol.''

Yugito nodded and said, ''Lead the way, sensei.''

Kirabi instantly disappeared with Yugito behind him.

''Show offs,'' Naruto and Hari said simultaneously.

…

Yugito jumped from tree branch to tree branch gratefully, catching up with Kirabi, who was humming beats to himself while writing something down on his notepad, not bothering to look in front of him.

''You know,'' the jōnin said, not looking up from his notepad, ''You should try to get more along with your teammates.''

Yugito scoffed, ''They will only hold me back. They are below my level.''

''True,'' Kirabi said with indifference. ''At the moment, you're the strongest out of the three.''

''At the moment?'' Yugito questioned, making a large leap from a tree branch next to her sensei. ''What's that supposed to mean.''

''What I said,'' Kirabi said evenly. ''At the moment, you're the strongest pupil of team Kirabi.''

''Why the emphasis on 'at the moment', Kirabi-sensei?''

''Because, that's what you are _at the moment_.'' Kirabi repeated.

Annoyed, Yugito made an indignant sound and jumped in front of her sensei, taking the lead in the scouting mission whilst thinking, 'What must he be thinking? I'm superior to those two fools in every way.'

'If only you would see your foolishness from perspective, Yugito,' Kirabi thought, looking at his female student's back. 'You would see that being cold and indifferent will not shield you from your fears.'

Yugito suddenly stopped and held up her hand. Kirabi landed soundlessly next to her and looked down to her crouching form. She pointed to the east; there was a pack of samurai huddled in a group near the far end of the river they were scouting.

They were arguing.

The shinobi grabbed their binoculars and looked closely at the group. They could barely hear what they were saying, since they were a few hundred feet away.

_''I'm telling you! I saw two kids frying up the river and collecting fish!''_ a fat samurai with a black beard hair and scars over his face said. _''They've got to be Kumo! We have to tell the bosses!''_

_''No,''_ another insisted. _''Why would Kumo be here? No!''_

_''I told I don't know why they're here, but it's probably because we've been stationed here for a damn month! This village is under Kumo's protection, right? Something about their river- ack!''_

Another samurai had appeared behind him and swiftly decapitated the man. It was so fast Yugito could barely distinguish the silvery-white glow of the blade.

_''That fool should've known not to speak of our masters' plans out loud. We may not the only ones in this forest.''_

The rest of the samurai took a step back in fear. Some of them quivered and looked to the samurai that killed the other.

_''S- Saturo-taichō!''_ one cried. _''What do you suppose we do?''_

Yugito shifted to get a better look at the samurai; she blushed slightly.

Saturo wore a pure white kimono with a black haori over it. He had snow white hair and intense yellow eyes, smooth skin and, from his evil grin she could see he had sharp teeth, with his fangs being nearly as long as Naruto's. He had his katana stored in a black a scabbard he had strapped to his back, with its hilt looming over his left ship, indicating him to be right handed. He had several glaives holstered to his left leg and had the kanji for ''Inner Darkness'' in white lettering on his black haori.

_''Ask Takeshi, I have no time for this,''_ Saturo said before disappearing in an instant.

Takeshi, who turned out to be the far less handsome other captain wore a blood red battle armour, similar to that of an traditional samurai but it seemed to be of an lighter material. It was covered by black bears climbing over the torso and a white eye was painted on the helmet. He had a scarred, rough and tanned skin, black eyes, a scar over his left eye, a lightly trimmed black beard and two swords on his back. The swords were in blood red scabbards, which also had bear prints on it.

_''Alright, get moving back to the camp. Shinji-sama ordered us to be back before dark and the sun is setting.''_

The rest of the samurai nodded and two grabbed the corpse of their fallen comrade and dragged him into the forest with them.

Yugito turned to her sensei who merely pocketed his binoculars and grabbed his notepad and pen again, saying, ''That was informative. Now let's get back to the camp. We need to discuss this.''

Yugito nodded and jumped after her teacher.

* * *

**_Author's Notes_**

The first original arc of Kumo Nin starts this chapter and I'm quite pleased how it kicks off. This arc will have great characters, but perhaps some will be disappointed by the way I downplay Kirabi's power- which _is _necessary for this fiction. This story is not about an over-powered ''Naruto and incredibly strong friends'' of any sorts. Just a _different_ kind of Naruto and a _different_ kind of story I hope you will enjoy reading.

Please express any support/criticism/thoughts in a review!


	4. Appearance of an Enemy

**Kumogakure Ninja**

Posted: 17-09-09

Updated 28-06-11

* * *

CH4: The Appearance of an Enemy

* * *

(Team Kirabi Campsite)

Naruto's hand shook as he poked the fire with a stick. ''So these guys look pretty strong, huh? I've always wanted to meet samurai.''

Yugito scoffed as usual when he said something she found stupid. ''I doubt they'd like to talk to you. They keep to themselves and they despise shinobi for taking over their job markets.''

''Who said we wanted to talk?'' Hari asked rhetorically, his onyx eyes shining in excitement and anxiety. ''We want to meet them so we can fight them.''

Kirabi chuckled, ''Ain't you two be frontin' like -''

''Please,'' his students said simultaneously. Kirabi pouted, puffing his cheeks and looking the other way childishly. ''Fine,'' he said, pulling a straight face. ''You can't afford to underestimate these guys. Stay away from the river for now. Who knows how powerful they are. If they work for the Akumu Shokō, they will know how to put up a good fight.''

Yugito got up and stalked off to her own tent, most likely to read up on more shinobi tactics and other literature.

Kirabi also stood up with a yawn, stretching his broad, muscular arms. ''You two get some sleep. I'll have some clones scout the areas and the village.''

'I can't believe I've been away from Kumo for five days already._' _Naruto parted the entrance of his tent and laid down on his sleeping bag. 'It feels so weird but I'm relieved at the same time. I hardly know anything about the world outside of Kumo…' The blond stifled a yawn, 'I hope these Akumu guys are as good as they are said to be. I wonder if I could take them with the Kyūbi's help.'Naruto wondered and yawned once more before sleep took him.

…

The following morning, the blond woke up early; light shimmered into his face through the open slit in his tent. Groaning he got up and went to the river mouth nearby. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes, yawning once more and stopped in his track.

Yugito was going through taijutsu katas. It was evident she had been up and training for several hours. Naruto took the time to look at her, he was a teenager after all. He had admit Yugito was beautiful, but that wasn't all that mattered to him. Her personality was unbearable as far as he was concerned, but, despite himself, he couldn't help but be a little mesmerized by her. Even sweating and with a face full of concentration, she was quite the beauty. His eyes zoned in on her bare tummy and to her hips and then to her chest and eventually her face.

''What do you want, Uzumaki?'' Yugito questioned, going through a roundhouse kick kata slowly and flawlessly.

Naruto snapped out his daze embarrassed. ''Nothing… Just getting something to drink.''

''Do as you please.'' The words of Kirabi still haunted her as Naruto turned walked away.

_"At the moment, you're the strongest of the three."_

'I'll show you I will be the best student you will ever have, Kirabi, whether you like it or not.'

…

Naruto walked for some time, berating himself for checking out the girl he despised so much. Hormones be damned!

'It must be the dehydration,'Naruto thought, quickening his pace. He walked through a thick patch of forest, hearing a stream of water and a faint sound. 'What's that?'

Naruto surreptitiously made his way through a few bushes, the faint sound increasingly became more discernable. It was... soothing.

Pushing aside the last remains of bushes, he saw a sight that he knew he would remain for some years to come. Emiko had been bathing in a small river mouth. Her beauty had been done much shame the bulged clothes she wore. Naruto, having never seen a naked girl before couldn't stop blushing. Emiko washes her ample breasts, hid before by the damnable kimono. She was humming serenely, her purple hair silkily on her shoulders, shining in the morning sun. Naruto's eyes wandered down to her curvy figure, landing on the patch of hair between her legs, blushing he quickly pulled back and was about to turn, when he tripped and fell down, bumping his head loudly on a tree.

Emiko hearing this jumped out of the river, slipped into her washed kimono and withdrew a dagger from it. A furious blush struck across her face.

''You pervert!'' she screamed, seeing Naruto on the floor holding his head in pain. ''How could you spy on a girl like that?''

''N- No!'' Naruto shouted, stumbling over his words, ''I - I wasn't spying on you! I'm not a pervert! I just came to get water when I tripped and then this and I- I- I'm sorry!'' The blond got on his knees, bowing his head to her as continued to endlessly apologise.

Emiko, flushed and the red tinge on her cheeks increased. ''Whatever, as long as you didn't see anything, it's fine-,'' she caught Naruto's guilty look, ''You did! You were spying on me, you little pervert!''

Naruto jumped back, landing in a crouch. ''No! I wasn't- well, I wasn't doing it on purpose! I just- _it just happened!_ I'm not a pervert, really!'' he shouted once more, his hands up in a defensive manner. ''I'd never do that to you!''

Emiko's blush increased, she was obviously embarrassed. And who could blame her? A boy, three years younger than her, had seen her naked. Something no one had ever done. ''Well don't do it again! If you tell _anyone_ about this, I'll kill you!''

The threat would never in her wildest dreams actually accumulate to anything but Naruto went with it, not wanting to exacerbate her ire.

''Y- Yeah, sure!'' Naruto agreed easily, he was barely holding back on a nosebleed as it was. ''Do you need anything?'' he asked politely, yet awkwardly.

''Just go!''

''OK!'' Naruto complied, turning around and making his way out of _that_ patch of the forest.

-ooo-

Naruto had a hard time getting his mind straight. He was getting his ass kicked by Hari at the moment. Hari ducked under his sloppy right hook and delivered a sharp roundhouse kick to the blonde's face, sending him stumbling and eventually forcing him to fall back.

''What's up with you today?'' Hari asked, quite annoyed at the lack of attention. ''You're never this easy to beat.''

''Uhuh,'' Naruto rambled absentmindedly. ''It's nothing.''

''He's seen a girl naked for the first time in his life and he can't get it out of his perverted little mind.'' Yugito revealed, leaning against a tree nearby, reading a shinobi literature handbook.

''W- What?'' Naruto demanded, the blush returning in full furry.

Hari looked at his friend with an curious expression and then turned to Yugito. ''Who?''

Yugito pushed a page further, ''That Emiko girl.''

''You were _spying_ on me?'' Naruto demanded angrily. ''I knew you were a pain in the ass, but what's up with _spying_ on your own teammates?''

''For your information,'' Yugito said coldly, ''I wasn't _spying_ on you. She screamed when she spotted you and I obviously had to see what was going on in case we were under attack.''

"Sure.'' Naruto glared at her briefly and then turned to Hari and explained. ''I was getting water and I accidentally walked in on her, I wasn't _spying_ on her.''

''Ahuh," Hari said vaguely, clearly not interested.

''Where's Kirabi?'' Naruto asked his friend, who snapped out his daydream.

''Don't know, probably out scouting the area.''

''He's in the town centre getting information out of villagers,'' Yugito pushed another page in her book. ''He said he'd be back in a couple of hours.''

Naruto shrugged. ''More time for sparring then, I guess.''

-ooo-

Kirabi sat on a rooftop in the village, looking down on his notepad. The villagers had been very cooperative; he had to thank his two male pupils for that. A good meal had done the village good but they were still scared, and if he didn't blame them. The Akumu Shokō were looking for something in the area, according to his intel. Kungo, the town's new spokesman, had said there was a legend surrounding the great river of the Fishermen Islands.

Kirai took one more glance at his notepad and read:

_Many years ago, two great warriors hailing from equally powerful clans dueled to the death in the land that was once known as Sun Country before it was annex by Lightning Country shortly after the civil war. Tōshirō no Shirōi, a battle monk of the north was the head of a clan of charitable monks skilled in ice techniques whom were accused of challenging the Daimyō's power. The other legendary figure was Yamaken Kuma, a samurai of the east whose clan excelled in earth jutsu and sought the favour of their deity, Bhumi the Goddess of Earth.__ When a civil war broke out, the Daimyō hired the Yamaken Clan in order to fight the rebels whom sided with Shirōi Clan. Eventually after years of fighting, the bloodshed and loss of life was too high and thus Yamaken Kuma and Tōshirō no Shirōi decided to end it all with one last duel, the victor's clan would remain and the loser would lose both his life as would his clan be honour bound to the country. The battle lasted three days and destroyed the landscape, revamping it completely. With Kuma's Shinken the Keikōku Kizamu the land was carved with deep trenches, and these trenches were filled with ice with the power of Tōshirō's Hiryū Shikōn. When the ice melted, the water further pushed and separated the lands and thus created the Fishermen Island. _

_The battle left both warriors waning on the line of death. Kumo chose to meet his end in the river and took his beloved sword to the grave. Tōshirō, whom had managed to extend his life another few days returned to his home and told his clan to uproot and leave the country under the pretense he lost. Tōshirō then wrote a letter to the elders of Kuma's clan and told them Kuma had lost their duel, and his life in the process, thus they decided to uproot as well and leave._

_Upon his last day, Tōshirō waded into the newly created river and allowed his body to sink to the depths of the river as he took his blade with him, in respect to his fallen rival whom he had promised to continue to fight in the life hereafter. _

_Due to the chakra residue left behind by the Shinken, fish found it easy to reproduce and thus the populous gained incredible riches in their trade._

_To this day it is believed the Keikōku Kizamu and Hiryū Shikōn still residue deep within the river._

''Quite the story,'' Kirabi noted out loud. 'I wonder if that's what Akumu Shokō are after. The legendary swords of Tōshirō no Shiroi and Yamaken Takeshi.'

Kirabi pocketed the notepad in his pouch located on his right hip and Shunshined away.

_(TL: Hiryū Shikōn translates to 'ice dragon fang' & Keikōku Kizamu translates to 'canyon carver'.)_

-ooo-

''So, you think there are some legendary swords in the river?'' Hari asked skeptically, to which Naruto and Yugito nodded. They were sitting around a camp fire, each on a small log, it was late at night. ''How do we know they're telling the truth. Even if this legend is true, how do they know the other villages aren't located on the real island where the swords were left.''

Kirabi rubbed his chin, scratching his goatee. ''You make a good point, but it would explain why this one village out of ten is directly under Kumo's protection? The others are just as much a part of the country but as far as we know they never had a direct relationship with our village.''

''But what's to say those swords weren't dragged away by the water?'' Hari asked.

''They're here,'' Naruto said confidently.

''And how would you know that?'' Yugito challenged. ''What evidence do you have to support that statement?''

''My gut's telling me they're here.''

Yugito gave him one of her patented scoffs. ''Oh, so your _gut _is telling you the swords are here? Then it _must _be true.'' The sarcasm was dripping from her voice.

Naruto glared at her. ''I don't care whether you believe me or not, but look at the facts.''

''What facts?'' Kirabi asked.

''Those samurai guys are here and they're working for two renown shinobi and they've been here for over a month. Don't you think that's got to mean something? Why else would they still be here if they had nothing to go on? ''

Hari nodded in agreement. ''I think Naruto's on to something here.''

''Of course _you_ would think that,'' Yugito said coldly, to which Kirabi frowned.

''What's that supposed to mean, Nii?'' Hari replied testily, glaring at the blond kunochi. ''Unless you've got a better theory, I suggest you shut up and listen, instead of shooting down everything we say.''

''Unless you'd like to waste my time more with _fantasies _and _gut feelings,_ I'll go and train." With that, Yugito turned and walked away from the camp, hidden in thick patches of bushes and made her way into the forest.

''She really is a pain in ass,'' Naruto said, glaring at her retreating figure. ''I don't know what her problem is.''

Kirabi stood up and yawned. ''I'm going to catch some sleep, you two go can scout, just don't go near the river.''

''Got it,'' Naruto said, standing up. ''See you here in an hour?'' he asked Hari who nodded and jumped after the blond did, in a different direction.

-ooo-

Yugito grunted, shaking her bleeding hand in pain. She had been punching the tree in front of her, to hone her taijutsu skills. In her frustration, she had thrown a sloppy bunch that broke her wrist. She looked down at her hand, the effects of the two tailed cat already taking effect. The splinters popped out, the blood dried and the skin tissue reconstructed itself.

_''Freak, you'll never amount to anything!''_

She shook her head. She swore out loud and crouched at the river bank and laid her right hand in the cool, soothing river water. She had ignored Kirabi's prior order to not come close to the river but at the moment she didn't care, this place soothed her. She felt at ease here, for a reason she could not explain, even if she wanted to.

_''Take your demonic hell spawn of a daughter and get out!''_

Yugito gasped in pain, having applied a heavy pressure on her wounded hand as she cleaned it from blood stains. 'What is happening to me? Why are these memories coming up?'

_''Get her! Kill the mother if you must!''_

Yugito held her head in pain. Memories prior to her arrival at Kumo crashed into her mind unrelentingly like a tsunami.

_''So you have chosen to die with your child, then so be it, Harumi!''_

A horrible feminine scream.

Yugito couldn't breathe… Did the scream come from her or was it her imagination?

_''St- Stay away! W- What did you do to kaa-chan?''_

A cold hand reaching out for her.

A child's cry. An inhuman roar. The screams of hundreds.

_''It has gone berserk! Take the children and run!''_

_''Harumi's demon spawn has lost it! Run for your lives!'' _

A sudden touch.

''Yugito!''

''Ahh!'' Yugito screamed, twisting the hand on her shoulder and dropping whoever had touched her. She held the blade in her hand to Naruto's throat. ''Y- You!'' she hissed in an accusing tone, ''What are you doing here?''

Naruto gulped, gently pushing the hand with a kunai in it from his throat. ''I heard some noises… I thought you were in trouble. What are you doing here? We're not allowed to be here.''

Yugito swallowed thickly, standing up and sliding the blade in her holster. ''Nothing,'' she said in her impassive tone, ''I'll be along in a moment… Just give me a minute.''

''Are you alright?'' Naruto, despite his dislike for her couldn't just leave her like this, she was his teammate even if they didn't' get along most of the team.

Yugito looked into his concerned eyes, his blue hues softened with sincere concern for her well being. ''I said I needed a moment,'' she snapped at him aggressively. ''Just leave me alone, I don't need an idiot around me to distract me!''

Naruto's features changed into that of an indignant annoyance. ''Fine,'' he snapped back, ''See if I care next time you're holding your head and screaming like someone's chopping off you-''

Yugito sharply slapped him across the face, her vibrant blue eyes flickering to blue flames with slits in them. ''Get out of here,'' she said coldly.

Naruto said nothing and turned around and taking to the trees, leaving Yugito behind to mentally assure herself it was best that way.

'This burden is mine to bear. He has his own and I cannot allow him to handle mine too.'

…

Naruto held his stinging cheek, his face in a frown. He wasn't angry with her, he was just surprised. Why was she in so much pain? What happened to her that made her so cold, so dispassionate and impassive? 'I wonder what made her scream so loudly. Maybe Kirabi knows what happened to her.'

…

Hari jumped from tree to tree. He sensed something in front of him, it felt like several presences. He stopped on a tree branch and closed his eyes, concentrating on the sound of the environment. 'W- What is this sensation? Am I feeling these people's presence? I can sense something! Am I a sensory type ninja?'the genin wondered. 'I bet Kirabi-sensei knows more about this.'

Hari looked down from the branch and spotted some foot prints. He jumped down from the tree and crouched to examine the prints. 'Heavy foot prints, eight different sets… they must be heavily armoured and they went that way.'

Hari created a clone and took to the trees, jumping to the direction the prints were heading to. Meanwhile, his clone ran back to the camp, to call Kirabi and his team.

…

Naruto sat on a log by the fire, poking it with a stick he picked up. He was deep in thought, thinking about Yugito and the pain he had seen her in. A rustle called his attention and he looked up to see Yugito, her eyes were slightly puffy.

He said nothing.

''I apologize for striking you,'' Yugito said with a monotone voice. ''I should've known better than attacking a member of my team and Kumogakure. If you wish to report me to the shinobi council, I will-''

''Just cut that shit out,'' Naruto snapped at her. ''Why are you having such a hard time being normal? Why can't you just let go of those bullshit regulations and protocols?''

Yugito sat down on the log opposite of her blond teammate and picked up a stick and began poking it into the fire too. They let the awkwardness pass by in silence; neither spoke a word. Naruto looked at the blonde girl staring into the fire.

He swallowed his pride. ''You know-''

Naruto and Yugito jumped up. They heard someone running towards them. Hari appeared out of the bushes. He was cut, bruised and had a long slash across his chest, which was bleeding.

''Hari!'' Naruto ran to his team member and caught him as he fell down, ''What are you doing -''

''In trouble,'' the clone wheezed out, before he slowly turned cold and disappeared with a _poof!_

Naruto looked to Yugito.

''Get Kirabi and followed my chakra signature!'' Naruto shouted, running into the direction Hari came from.

-ooo-

(Twenty Minutes Earlier)

Hari saw the group of samurai group, four were carrying nets with undistinguishable items in them and another four were walking to each side of the carriers, their hands on their hilts. He crouched; looking at them through his small binoculars he had hanging around his neck. They were all nervous, he noticed, as they walked into a clearing. The carriers were sweating and Hari doubted it was because of the heavy load they had in the chest. They seemed quite capable in his mind. Hari jumped out of the tree with a chakra boost and landed in front of the band of samurais.

''Hello there,'' he greeted with a cocky grin, ''Mind if I ask what's in the in box?'' The guarding samurais quickly drew their blades and rushed at him.

Hari drew three senbon from his holster and threw them with deadly accuracy at the first attacker, who came in with his katana raised above his head for a decapitating stroke. He fell to the ground, his eyes rolling back.

The spiky haired genin ducked under a swipe of a katana and delivered a crushing right palm strike to another samurai's nose, instantly breaking it, and followed up with his left fist swung to the man's right cheek, sending him flying and landing in a heap, unconscious. The third samurai attempted a stab at his face, which Hari barely managed to dodge without more than horizontal a cut under his left eye. He paid the offender back and then some with an elbow in the eye and a jump-knee to the face, which crushed the samurai's jaw and nose and knocked him out instantly. The last samurai charged with a battle cry, but it took only a punch the face and a roundhouse kick to the side of his head to knock him out.

''Now that was _so _unnecessary,'' Hari took a relaxed stance. ''Any of going to do something stupid like that?''

The samurai's shook their head and dropped the chest between them and ran away. Hari approached the chest to examine it when something in the back of his mind alerted him not to. Hari drew back just as the chest exploded, prompting Hari to go through a series of back flips and land in a sloppy crouch, digging his fingers into the ground to stop him from sliding back too far as smoke emanated from the chest.

''What the…''

A figure stepped out of the smoke.

''Greetings,'' said the man in front of him. The newcomer seemed not a day over thirty, dressed in a snow white kimono and a black haori with the kanji for ''Inner Darkness'' embroided on the back. Under the man's right eye was a kanji tattoo in blue ink, spelling out ''Ice Radical.'' He had a blade with a white hilt in a white scabbard strapped over his right shoulder. His skin was pale and smooth, and the man had eerily glowing, yellow slit eyes and his face was set in an menacing grin and he radiated killing intent and power. ''My name is Satoru and I am your messenger.''

''Messenger?'' Hari repeated.'

Satoru looked him in the eyes, grinning as the world went quiet for Hari. All he could hear was his heart beating as Satoru mouthed the words, ''Shikumi no Jutsu.''

Hari tried to move, he mentally screamed demands for his body to move as Satoru neared him slowly, his pale hand reaching for the hilt of his sword. It was if he couldn't move, as if this was all just a dream, as if the man in front him _was not there._ His sensory skills were suddenly dull. He was horrified but he could barely move his fingers, let alone his arms and legs.

Then it hit him.

Graphic images of his own death flood through his mind. His mutilated body, ripped to shreds. His arm cut off and his head decapitated. He gasped, he needed to _breathe_! Hari closed his eyes, shutting them tightly and bit the inside of his cheek so hard the pain shocked him. To his surprise he regained power of his right arm and with what little movement available to him reached for a kunai and stabbed himself in his tight.

Hari regained control over his body not a second too late.

_(Jutsu: Shikumi no Jutsu - Death Viewing Technique!)_

Hari jumped to the sky the second Satoru had unsheathed his sword and slashed it horizontally, muttering, ''Eirō.'' The split second jump wasn't good enough to completely avoid the technique. The tip of his right boot had been encased in ice and it was spreading. He quickly took of the boot and threw it at Satoru, who merely sheathed his sword with a click, causing the boot encased in ice to burst into a thousand pieces.

''Formidable,'' Satoru said in his slick voice, his handsome features graced with a devilish smile. ''I can tell you have great potential, such a shame let it go to waste.''

''Am I supposed to say 'thank you' now?'' Hari withdrew three senbon in each hand. ''I'll guess I'll have to disappoint you. Shinobi don't make time for pleasantries.''

''Yes,'' Satoru said in a reflective manner. ''So uncivilized.''

Hari masked his panic with a confident grin. ''What do you want from me? This was obviously a trap. You allowed me to sense your men so you could take me or someone else on my team out, didn't you?''

Satoru shook his head. ''Not really,'' he said evenly, ''We were planning to lure one of you in, but we certainly did not allow you to sense our chakra. These men you fought are amongst the weakest men under my command, they have no talent in chakra manipulation. How you sensed them, I do not know. Perhaps you are of those sensory type shinobi.''

''Aha.'' Hari didn't know what else to say, perhaps he would have been happy if it weren't for the fact he had just walked into an enemy trap and his opponent seemed confident in being able to beat him rather easily. Hari swallowed thickly. 'I hope my clone reached Kirabi-sensei by now!'

''I'm afraid I must end this little confrontation. After all, a message must be delivered on time and must be served swiftly.''

With an instant he disappeared and reappeared in front of Hari. The slash of silver was so fast Hari couldn't even see it. Looking down to his chest as Satoru sheathed his sword, he saw a deep gash on his chest and ice spreading from it.

''Hatsugoori.''

Hari couldn't breathe, he felt so _cold._

He quickly lost the power to struggle against the rapidly spreading ice as it completely encased him.

-ooo-

Naruto jumped from tree branch to tree branch, channeling chakra to his legs to rocket him in the sky with each leap as he practically flew through the forest, barely able to see where he was going. 'Where is he?'The frustrating confusion built up in his thoughts. As if someone read his mind, an enormous chakra signature that rivaled his own called out to him.

'There!' Naruto leaped out of his tree, flying thirty feet in the air when he saw an ice block lying in a clearing. ''Hari!'' Naruto landed with a powerful skid on the ground and ran to his friend. ''No!'' he screamed, looking into the horrified face of his friend encased in ice. ''Hari!''

Hot tears streamed down his cheeks as he slammed his fist on the black of ice. ''No! Come on, HARI!'' The pain of losing his friend was so great he did not notice he was beating his right hand raw and bloody on the unbreakable block of ice. The broken knuckle could compare to the pain he felt in his heart.

''HARI!''

* * *

**_Author's Notes_**

This story was written before the Raikage's name was revealed to be 'A' and before it was revealed that 'A' was more an alias/nickname, thus his real name is unknown. Because of this, I went ahead and referred to him as 'Raiden' in future chapters, it roughly translates to 'Lightning and Thunder', rather appropriate if I may say so.

Don't forget to review!

**_Author's Notes_**

This story was written before the Raikage's name was revealed to be 'A' and before it was revealed that 'A' was more an alias/nickname, thus his real name is unknown. Because of this, I went ahead and referred to him as 'Raiden' in future chapters, it roughly translates to 'Lightning and Thunder', rather appropriate if I may say so.

Don't forget to review!

…

**Jutsu Used:**

_(Jutsu: Shikumi no Jutsu - Death Viewing Technique!) - ? rank, supplementary, short range. By utilizing a strong killer intent and focusing it on the desired target, one can make his opponent's brain create images his own death, leading most victims to believe they saw a glimpse of the future._

_(Jutsu: Eirō** - **Life Imprisonment!) - ? rank, offensive, short to mid range. An unknown offensive technique used by the warrior Satoru. With a swift stroke, a wave of ice chakra is cast over the opponent, encasing him or her in ice. The ice will instantly encase any part of the body in nearly unbreakable ice._

_(Jutsu: Hatsugoori - Fist Ice of Winter!) – ? rank, offensive, short to mid range. Another unknown offensive technique used by Satoru. Similar to the Eirō technique, it requires a draw from the blade to lash out ice chakra to encase the enemy in ice. However, unlike Eirō, Hatsugoori does not only encase with ice where it is hit, it spreads over the entire body immediately. The Hatsugoori is, unlike Eirō, only temporarily of effect._


	5. Skill & Determination

**Kumogakure Ninja**

Posted: 19-09-09

Updated: 28-06-11

* * *

CH5: Discipline & Skill

* * *

(Ritoru Haaku)

''HARI!'' Naruto screamed, the hot tears streaming down his face. He looked into his friend's features, his horrible soundless scream on his. ''NO!'' Naruto screamed shaking his head and raising his fist. ''Hari, you can't die!'' he screamed, slamming down his fist on the block of ice. Its solidity did not falter. It did not budge. It remained an icy coffin for his friend.

Naruto's eyes flickered red as his sense of dread heightened and continued slamming his fist into the block of ice. His knuckles split, but he couldn't care less. Naruto raised his fist again and again as he slammed it down, he didn't even notice blood streaming down his arm.

''HARI!'' Naruto screamed one more time, raising his broken fist.

He was about to lower his fist to smash it into the block of ice when a warm hand grabbed his wrist and held it firmly. He looked back, seeing Yugito shaking her head. Kirabi was standing behind her, charging his hand with chakra.

''Stand back.'' Kirabi's eyes flashes from regular black to silver and black behind his shades

Yugito gently, yet firmly dragged Naruto with her.

Kirabi placed his right on the block of ice, applying and noted its solidity instantly. He then raised his arm and allowed it to engorge ten times it original size, morphing into a humanoid tentacle-like limb and brought it down with a grunt. The ice block instantly shattered profound cracking soundsand lost its integrity as it well apart instantly. Kirabi reverted his limb to its original size and form and retrieved Hari, whose skin was now blue and his shoulder was left partially locked in ice.

Kirabi crouched and picked up his student. ''Naruto, pull yourself together, Hari is still alive! Get some water ready in the village, I'll be right behind you!''

Naruto snapped out of his shocked daze, looking at Hari and then to his teacher.

''Go!'' Kirabi shouted at him. "Go with him, Yugito.''

Yugito nodded and instantly took the trees and Naruto snapped out of his daze as he followed her.

…

Naruto was out of breath as he launched himself out of the last tree and landed with a tumble, running the last distance to the village centre. Fortunately, Kungo the militia leader was present and was speaking to another concerned villager as Naruto reached him.

''Old man!"

Kungo turned around. ''Shinobi-san? What-''

''No time for the formalities! Our teammate got hurt and we need a place with a bath or something- anything you got where we can put a lot of water in!''

Kungo nodded, beckoning them to follow as he lead them outside of the town hall and into the remains of the recreational area. ''There's a bathhouse at the end of the street. We all bathe there now, you can use it if you wish but we have no means of heating water quickly.''

''That's fine, thanks!'' Naruto pushed open the oak double door, rolling up his sleeve he began channelling chakra to his right hand, which had popped back its bones and sewn its broken skin tissue.

Yugito pushed him aside. ''Don't get ahead of yourself, you have no affinity for lightning. I'll do this,'' she said, lightning instantly snapping to life in hands, cackling with disciplined control. Yugito narrowed her eyes, concentrating as much of chakra as she could control and aimed at the pool of water and cupped her hands together as chakra aggregated around them.

''Raiton! Shūrai no Jutsu!'' A thick bolt of lightning shot off Yugito's hands, pushing her back about two feet as it collided with the body of water and instantly heated it up. The blast was so hot, it turned most of the water into steam, but there was enough to for Hari to lie down in.

''Ge- get Kirabi-sensei.'' Yugito dropped to her knees, her legs having buckled under the draining effect. ''I can't move very well after using this attack.''

''Got ya!'' Naruto nodded, there was time to envy her for her lightning jutsu later. He turned on his heel just as Kirabi appeared in front of them.

''Good, you boiled up enough water, get out of the way.'' He ordered, and then proceeded to jump into the knee level pool of boiling water where he gently laid down Hari's bluish figure.

''How long is this going to take? He is going to be alright, right?''

Kirabi frowned, his attention fixed on the bubbles coming from the pool. ''I don't know. All we can do is hope he'll pull through.''

They waited for a minute in silence when the bubbles suddenly got bigger and more in number. Gasping, coughing and gasping for air, Hari emerged from the hot water, his skin somewhat scalded. He stumbled as he got to his feet with excruciating effort, his legs not being able to support his weight.

''Hari!'' Naruto jumped into the pall and grabbed onto Hari to drag him out of the boiling hot water.

Hari was covered in boils and red spots but they could worry about his minor injuries later.

Kirabi turned to Kungo. ''Get him a bed ready, please.''

Kungo hesitated for only a second, before turning around, shouting for them to follow him.

-ooo-

(Unknown)

In a cavern deep under round, not far from Ritoru Haaku, Satoru came to a stop before a pair of large double doors made of heavy oak. He pushed the door open, entering a dark, open space. There were few torches that lighted the chamber. Some of the elite warriors he knew stood as silent sentinels, guarding each door of the chamber. The chamber was enormous; there was a platform in the middle, with two thrones, one significantly bigger than the other.

A shadow was cast over the men that sat in their respective thrones.

Satoru kneeled, bowing his head down in respect.

''Have you finished your assignment, Satoru?'' a deep, booming voice asked. The voice had a rough edge to it, as if it was an laboured effort to speak. ''Have you sent a message to the Kumo team that came looking here?''

''Yes, Seiichi-sama,'' Satoru nodded. ''I have killed one of Yotsuki Kirabi's pupils. I suspect this will have the desired effect you wished.''

''Good,'' said Seiichi, the elder brother. ''What of you, Takezo?''

Satoru glanced to his left, where Takezo emerged from the ground. The traditional samurai armour clad warrior made a respectful bow and knelt as well.

''My masters, all things are going as planned. Regretfully, we had to silence one of our own who had discovered the presence of Kumo shinobi.''

''Who was he?'' Shinji demanded, his laboured voice booming in demanding.

''One of the useless ones, he was incapable of moulding chakra. Tai was his name, I believe.''

''Such inferior beings are not worth the trouble,'' Seiichi said dismissively. ''What of the submarines?''

''The submarines have arrived. Kiri's navy will suspect it was one of the smaller hidden villages.'' Takezo informed, ''Our forces have hid any sign of our presence.''

''Ooh,'' a much higher, friendlier and lighter voice spoke. ''Aren't you quite the asset, Takezo?''

''You're praise honours me, Shinji-sama.'' Takezo inclined his head once more. ''My men are currently conducting searches in all rivers of the Fishermen Islands. You will have the legendary blades you desire, my masters. It is only a matter of time now.''

''Good,'' Seiichi's tone was approving. ''Now leave us, both of you. I must retire.''

Satoru and Takezo bowed their heads once more and stood up. Takezo looked at Satoru with a cocky smile as he submerged into the earth beneath him. Satoru paid it no heed and turned on his heels as he exited the chamber.

-ooo-

(Ritoru Haaku)

''How is he? '' Naruto asked the village doctor, starring down upon his team mate, Hari, who was laid down on a bed, extra blankets over his to keep him warm. His lips, fingers and toes still were slightly bluish and his skin was pale.

''His condition is serious, but he is a strong one. He will pull through this one, but it's his shoulder than concerns me.''

''What about his shoulder?'' Kirabi asked the doctor, towering over him by at least three feet.

''Well,'' the old doctor grabbed his beard, ''It seems he's got a case of frostbite on his shoulder. It may take weeks of rehabilitation to get it better.''

Kirabi nodded. ''Thank you, doctor,'' he said to the small man nodded in return as he packed up his supplies and left, closing the door to Kungo's shabby house.

''What do we do now?'' Yugito asked, sitting on a chair. ''We can't hope to best these men in battle. A mere lieutenant did this to Hari and he was apparently not having a hard time. There were no signs of battle other than the ice encased tree we found, only a few foot prints- it's as if he didn't even try.''

Naruto glared at her, instantly turning around. ''Shut up,'' he said angrily. ''Look at him, how can you say he didn't try?''

Yugito knew now wasn't the time to argue with her team mate. ''I'm not saying he did not try. What I am saying is that he fought a powerful opponent who made it look like he didn't try.'' She then looked at Kirabi, ''You know we're out of our league here, sensei. You may be able to take them on separately, but not with us there.''

''N- No.''

The team instantly looked down to Hari's figure, his eyes were half open.

''No,'' Hari repeated, croaking in thirst. Naruto grabbed a glass of water and helped his friend drink.

''It's alright. We know you tried your best, Hari.''

''No!'' Hari slapped the glass away, sending it smashing against the wall as he and sat up. The quick movement took a lot out of him, as he began coughing again. ''I- I kn- know his weak- weakness,'' he said in his raspy voice.

''What?'' Kirabi asked. ''What weakness?''

''Satoru's weakness,'' Hari said, accepting a second glass of water and emptying it in his mouth instantly.

''Is that his name?'' Yugito asked. ''Satoru?''

''How?'' Kirabi asked, ''What weakness?''

Naruto helped Hari lie down. Hari managed to grin weakly. ''I- I think I'm a sensory type of ninja,'' Hari said, ''I was able to track them down by sensing their chakra about five miles away.''

Naruto looked at Kirabi. ''Aren't you a sensory type too, Kirabi-sensei?''

Kirabi nodded, ''But it took me a lot longer to notice I was. I was seventeen when I found out I had the ability.''

Yugito looked at Hari, ''So what is this weakness?'' she asked. ''How did you see it?''

''I-,'' Hari coughed painfully, ''I sensed a different chakra in his scabbard when I fought him.''

The brown-haired genin grinned at his team. ''He needs at least three seconds to charge his sword with chakra, when he unsheathes it he needs to aim at his targets. He does it really fast, even though he was playing with me, so maybe he can only manage controlling it on the of his sword for a small period of time. His ice jutsu are more defensive than offensive, but once you're hit, the ice will sprea -'' Hari coughed, ''Once you- you're hit, the ice will spread quickly.''

''That,'' Kirabi said, ''Is a most impressive deduction from meeting him only one time. You'll go far in this world, Hari,'' Kirabi complimented his student.

Naruto patted him the chest, ''Get some rest, we'll handle the rest.''

''You better,'' Hari said, a weak smile on his face before his eyes closed and fell asleep instantly.

-ooo-

''We're we going, sensei?'' Naruto asked as he jumped after his teacher from tree branch to tree branch, Yugito right behind him, wondering the same.

''We need to prepare ourselves for them. I can take them, but you can't and they know that. I'm going to train you what I can in this small period of time,'' Kirabi explained. ''Yugito, you have shown extreme prowess in lightning techniques, I have on that'll come in handy.''

Yugito nodded, hiding her excitement.

''What about me?'' Naruto asked, ''What affinity do I have?''

''That's what we're going to find out,'' Kirabi said jumping out of the tree and landing at their camp. He reached into pouch and withdrew two, small, squared sheets of white paper. ''These papers can determine your elemental chakra affinity. Over time you will unlock more with training, most shinobi start with this training when they achieve the chūnin rank. In our village, you must have a minimum of two elemental chakras to attain jōnin rank.''

Naruto nodded, soaking up the information. ''So, I'll only have one affinity at the start?''

''Depends,'' Yugito answered before Kirabi could. ''Most have one elemental affinity, but some start out with two. It's just a matter of experience and character. It takes disciplined control to control lightning, endurance for earth, rage for fire, intelligence for water and it takes determination for wind - or so they say.''

''Correct,'' Kirabi said. ''It is impossible for a weak minded person to control lightning as it is for a weak willed person to control wind.''

''So, what do you think I got?'' Naruto asked, taking his sheet of paper. ''I'm thinking I got wind.''

''So do I, you're very proficient with wind techniques, but let's find out. Channel a little amount of chakra into your finger tips, the paper will soak it up.''

Naruto nodded and closed his eyes, channeling chakra in to his hand and finger tips. He felt a small friction and opening his eyes, he saw the sheet of paper split in two.

''So we were both right,'' Kirabi grinned, ruffling his student's hair, ''Wind is extremely rare, outside of Sunagakure.''

Naruto grinned, pleased with himself. ''So you're going to teach me a wind jutsu? I only know a handful of them and they're not even that strong.''

''I prepared a scroll for this. I knew I would need them, I'll give them to you after this,'' Kirabi said, turning to Yugito who held up her cracked paper, ''Lightning, just as I expected. I'll train you personally, I've got some techniques you'd love.''

Naruto resisted the urge to glare at Yugito, knowing their lives might be at stake and he needed to be ready. ''I'll go to clearing a mile back to train, then.''

''Good,'' Kirabi said, reaching into his pouch and taking out of a scroll from which he unsealed a thicker scroll and handed it to Naruto, ''I was going to give this to you for your birthday to be honest,'' he said with a grin.

Naruto grinned back, ''Then I guess you'll just have to buy me a sword after all,'' he said before turning around and taking to the trees.

''Ok,'' Kirabi said turning to Yugito, ''You showed me your Shūrai technique in Kumo and though it was a good technique to have, I told you something, do you remember what I said?''

''You said that creating my own technique was fine, but I shouldn't use it unless it was fully completed,'' Yugito said, ''And, you said that it was a technique that left me open after use, so I had to be careful when using it.''

''Exactly, which is why I am going to teach you one of the lightning based assassination techniques I know.''

Yugito grinned at Kirabi, who instantly grinned back, glad Yugito could express herself when it came to new techniques.

…

Twelve hours later, Naruto fell back on his behind, breathing heavily. He was tired couldn't go on anymore. He looked down to the first technique on his scroll.

_Fūton! Akkai Genshuku no Jutsu!_

_The Crushing Gravity technique, developed by the monks of the desert, who specialized in wind based techniques. The technique requires one to clench one's hand to form a hand, channel chakra to it and perform a palm strike and releasing the built up chakra -_

Naruto put down the scroll and got up, having regained his breath, _''One more time,''_ he thought to himself, channelling chakra to his right fist, holding his left in front of him to aim on the tree. ''Fūton! Akkai Genshuku! no Jutsu'' he palm trusted in front of him, a blast of wind created another fist-sized hole in the thick tree, but didn't puncture it. ''Damn it!'' Naruto said, falling on behind. ''Why won't this work?''

_(Jutsu: Fūton! Akkai Genshuku no Jutsu – Crushing Gravity!)_

A rustle in the leaves caught his attention, he instantly jumped up, but calmed down. It was Emiko, she had dropped by a couple of hours earlier.

''You're still at it?'' she asked, crossing her arms, resisting the urge to shiver. She had pulled on a cloak, but was still cold. ''It's pointless you know.''

''What's pointless?'' Naruto asked, pretending not to know what she was talking about. ''You coming her to try and interrupt my training or you just trying to discourage me? Neither will work.''

Emiko glared at him, ''Why bother? You can't win against the -''

''If you're done, I'd like to get back to my training,'' Naruto cut her off, taking his stance once more. Emiko scoffed and turned around and just as she was about to leave the clearing and enter the forest, Naruto said, ''When I beat them, Emiko, I expect a thank you.''

Emiko turned around, looking into his blue eyes, shining with determination, a cheesy grin on his face. ''W- what?'' she asked.

''I want a thank you when we defeat them,'' Naruto repeated, his eyes still shining crazily, ''And I expect you to be sincere.''

''Whatever,'' Emiko said, turning around and walking away, a blush on her face and a weird feeling in her stomach.

''Fūton! Akkai Genshuku! no Jutsu'' Naruto shouted, palm thrusting at the tree, releasing his chakra. This time, the blast caught him of guard, slinging him to the ground as a much bigger pocket of air crushed into the tree and easily went through it. ''YEAH!'' Naruto cheered, pumping his fist. ''I did it!''

Emiko stood behind a tree, her eyes wide in surprise, the blush still on her face and the weird feeling in her stomach growing, as she watched Naruto jump around, shouting, ''I did it!'' over and over.

Naruto dropped to the ground, laughing, a big grin on his face.

-ooo-

''Again,'' Kirabi ordered. ''Concentrate more on letting the chakra jump out when piercing this time.''

Yugito nodded, holding out her right hand, grabbing her wrist with her left, coating both hands with chakra and shout, ''Raiton! Raiken!'' Lightning sprang to life on her right hand, enveloping it completely. Yugito charged at tree in front of her, dragging her lightning fist with, cocked back her arm and smashed her fist into the tree. The giant oak instantly shattered from the inside as Yugito withdrew her hand and jumped back, the lightning dying down. The tree caught aflame, turning charcoal black. Yugito grinned.

''I like this technique.''

Kirabi laughed, ''Well, check it, ma name be Kirabi, I'm the greatest y'all ever seen-'' he stopped, taking out his notepad and pen and began scribbling something, saying ''Good stuff'' to himself. He cleared his throat and began his obnoxious beat-boxing. ''Well check it, ma name is Kirabi, I'm the greatest shinobi y'all ever see, it's cuz I am, THE KILLER BEE!'' he finished his rap with howl and looked down to find Yugito gone and puncturing another tree with a lightning fist. ''Hey!''

''I've gotten an idea for a new technique,'' Yugito said, turning around and ignoring his childish pout. ''What if I expel the chakra out of my hand, harden it in a shell and only use chakra protect the palm of my hand? That'll cut down on the chakra taxation and if I can learn to throw it, that'll cut down the risk.''

''Aha!'' Kirabi understanding, his fist on his palm, ''I see! You want to copy Hatake Kakashi from Konoha, don't you?''

Yugito looked the other way, embarrassed her teacher saw through it so fast. ''His lightning techniques are quite exceptional,'' she said.

''Yeah,'' Kirabi said scratching his corn rows, ''But I heard he's really ugly beneath the mask.''

Yugito sweat dropped. 'Is he even listening?'

-ooo-

Naruto doubled over and vomited, chakra exhaustion was getting to him. He shook his head,_ ''One more time,'' _he told himself, getting up and whipping his mouth with them sleeve of his shirt.

''Fūton!- ack!''

Emiko ran to Naruto as he coughed blood and fell over, catching him and holding him to her chest. Naruto groaned, tiredly. ''I need to try it one last time.''

''Can't you wait till morning, when you're all rested up?'' Emiko asked, ''Besides, you already mastered one technique -''

''No,'' Naruto said, ''I have to save this village and I -'' he fell unconscious.

Emiko held the blond to her chest, letting him rest as she hummed the song her mother used to sing to her as a child.'I can't believe it,' she thought,'He's willing to go so far for us...'She blushed as Naruto's arms circled around her waist and pulled her closer, hugging her as he buried his face deeper into her chest. Emiko raised her fist and bonked him on the head, mumbling, ''Pervert.''

She continued her humming, running a hand through the blonde's hair.

…

The following day Naruto woke up in the clearing, his head resting on something soft. He reached to see what if was. His hand cupped around something soft yet firm and round. He squeezed, a feminine moan followed. His eyes snapped open, he saw something red draped over him and quickly determined it to be a red cloth. He squeezed his right hand once more. Another moan, this time more erotic. He pulled back his head, his mouth dropped. He was groping a sleeping Emiko's breast. Naruto mentally screamed and jumped back, looking at his right hand as if it was infected. A furious blush appeared on his face. He looked down at his hand and then at her breasts. An idea came to his head which increased his blush.

He made his way to Emiko, grabbed the cloak and draped it over her and said, ''Thank you.''

The blond genin turned around and made his way into the forest. It took him about five minutes to find another clearing where he could practice his new technique. He found another sturdy tree and cocked back his right fist. ''Fūton! Akkai Genshuku no Jutsu!'' he shouted, thrusting his palm towards the tree. An invisible gush of air crushed into the tree, ripping it in clean in two.

''Still got it,'' he said with a grin as the tree fell down next to him and he sat on it. He pulled out his scroll again, looking at the second technique on the list.

_Fūton! Daitoppa no Jutsu!_

_Fūton Daitoppa is a ninjutsu technique that utilizes the wind element. After bringing his or her hand to his mouth, the user will blow a large blast of wind capable of leveling almost anything in its way. A variation of the technique involves a smaller blast of wind which gets ignited with flame. This variation can be used in demolition and sabotage situations._

_Type: Offensive_

_Rank: C_

Naruto laid down scroll and went through the hand seals shown in the scroll. ''Fūton! Daitoppa!'' he shouted, channeling chakra to his lungs as he inhaled air and exhaled it, blowing it over his palm. He managed to get small wind that kicked up the dirt around him. He cursed, ''Why are all the wind techniques so damn hard?'' he asked himself, when he remembered something Yugito had told him earlier. It took determination to control the wind and if he wasn't absolutely determined and acted with conviction, then the wind techniques would go as he wished them to go.

An idea popped into the genin's mind, he grinned.

-ooo-

''That's enough of, Yugito,'' Kirabi said, as his blond student dropped to her knees. ''You've trained over eighteen hours with only two hours of sleep in between.''

''One more time, sensei,'' Yugito wheezed, whipping sweat of her forehead, ''I can do this!'' she said, going through hand seals and holding out her hand, shouting, ''Raiton! Raikyū!'' A silver-grey ball formed into her hand, cackling with lightning. Yugito took a deep breath, closing her eyes for ten seconds, breathing and out and then snapped them open and charged at the tree thirty yards from her and slammed her fist in it.

Tree instantly shattered into a million pieces, exploding from the inside. The blast send her flying to a tree head first, but Kirabi appeared and caught her in his muscular arms.

''Thanks,'' Yugito managed to whispers before falling asleep.

Kirabi sighed, turning around and heading to the camp where he would put Yugito down in her tent to sleep.

-ooo-

Naruto, channelling chakra to his hands as he waved them through the air, collecting pockets of air, charged at a boulder he found. He pushed all his hand in front of him, shouting, ''Fūton! Daitopppa!''

Sure enough, it had the desired effect. The wind blew violently, picking up the boulder slightly bigger than Naruto, but much heavier and threw it away. ''Yeah!'' Naruto shouted, ''Take that, bitch!'' he pointed at the boulder as it flew through the air and landed with a loud thump, sinking inches into the ground. ''How do you like me now, huh?''

''I think it'll be a little hard for a boulder to actually like you.''

Naruto turned around to see Emiko walking to him, rubbing her eye. He smiled, ''Hey, you're up.''

''And so are you,'' Emiko said, her tone slightly reprimanding, ''You should get some more sleep in.''

Naruto shook his head, picking up the scroll for the last technique he would learn for the day, ''No need, I only need a few hours sleep to replenish my chakra.'' He opened the scroll and began reading.

_Fūton! Shippū Shūren!_

_The Hurricane Drill technique -_

Naruto skipped to the details and nodded, understanding the concept of it instantly and standing up. He was slightly put off by the rank it was given, but he knew he could do it. If he could master the shadow clone technique in one night, he could master this one too. _''Determination, determination,'' _he mentally repeated, going through hand seals, _''I'm going to get them, Hari!''_

''Fūton! Shippū Shūren no Jutsu!''Naruto shouted, wind was visibly running around his arm, drilling the air in front of him, kicking up dust around him. ''Hahaha! I did!'' he shouted when suddenly the drills around his arms expanded and started to screech as they span incredibly fast making an _fzzzt_ sound. ''What the-?''

''AAH!''

_(Jutsu: Shippū Shūren no Jutsu – Hurricane Drill!)_

* * *

**_Author's Notes_**

Haven't got much to say other than thank you to whoever reviewed and please leave me another review for this chapter.

…

**Jutsu Used:**

_(Jutsu: Shūrai no Jutsu – Lightning Bolt!) – A ranked, offensive, long ranged. The Shūrai no Jutsu is Yugito's first original technique. This technique does not require hand seals, but is more less chakra taxing with it. Yugito summons an enormous amount of chakra into her hands, instantly converts it to lightning chakra and shoots it off as lightning bolt. Despite its name, it not as powerful or as fast as a real lightning bolt or as fast. Nonetheless, this technique is extremely powerful and heavy on chakra taxation and can shoot up to five hundred meters distance. Yugito has since creation passed this jutsu on to one other person: Uzumaki Naruto._

_(Jutsu: Raiken - Lightning Fist!) - B rank, offensive, short range. A technique passed down from teacher to student in Kumogakure. This technique requires a chakra coating around the hand before expelling lightning chakra on top of it. Its piercing power is quite destructive and it is powerful enough to go through boulders with ease. **Derived jutsu:** Raikyū no Jutsu (Lightning Ball)._

_(Jutsu: Raiton! Raikyū no Jutsu - Lightning Ball Technique!) – B ranked, offensive, short range. Yugito's second original technique, in which she uses the concept of the lightning fist, but expels the chakra out of her hand and forms it into a shell. This technique is based on Hatake Kakashi's famous Raikiri put is derived from the Raiken technique thought to her by Kirabi. **Parent jutsu:** Raiken (Lightning Fist)._

_(Jutsu: Fūton! Akkai Genshuku no Jutsu - Crushing Gravity!) - C rank, offensive, mid range. The Akkai Genshuku requires the user to do the necessary hand seals and collect an enormous amount of air, compress it and shoot it off with a palm thrust. The compressed air, when on impact, will explode, momentarily increasing the gravity to the point bones and trees snap and boulders crack._

_(Jutsu: Fūton! Daitoppa – Great Breakthrough!) - C rank, supplementary, mid to long range. The Daitoppa is a ninjutsu technique which utilizes wind chakra. After bringing his hand to his mouth, the user will blow a large blast of wind capable of leveling almost anything in its way. A variation of the technique involves a smaller blast of wind which gets ignited with flame. This variation is often used in sabotage and demolition missions._

_(Jutsu: Fūton! Shippū Shūren no Jutsu - Wind Release! Hurricane Drill Technique!)_- NEXT CHAPTER!


	6. The Will to Protect

**Kumogakure Ninja**

Posted: 21-09-09

Updated: 28-06-11

* * *

CH6: The Will to Protect

* * *

(Ritoru Haaku: Naruto & Emiko)

Emiko felt sick, looking at the genin's pitiful form on the ground. His hands were ripped his up to the extent she could see bones and flesh. The purple haired teen felt dizzy, but this wasn't the time to be weak. She ran to the blond but stopped ten feet away. Her eyes bulged. She couldn't believe it... his arms, his disgustingly wrecked arms were sowing back together seamlessly.

''Oh my-'' Emiko fainted just as Naruto stood up, howling in pain.

''Emiko!'' Naruto shouted concerned, darting up and catching the girl as she fell down. ''Hey, wake up!'' he shouted, ''Come on, wake up!'' he lightly slapped the purple haired teen, but she didn't respond. ''Fuck!'' he cursed loudly, ''Why the hell did it go wrong? I was determined, I was ready!'' he said, laying down the girl gently, as if she were made of glass. Guilt captured his heart. ''Damn it!''

-ooo-

Hari rolled over to his right side, the angry frown still on his face. 'How could I have been so weak?' he asked himself. 'How could I have let myself become so overconfident?'He wished he could blame his new found powers. It was true the sensational feeling when he tried to sense someone made him feel quite powerful, but he knew deep down that wasn't why he lost. He was overconfident because he had felt the lack of chakra in his samurai opponents and because of it he had let his guard down. Perhaps if he had concentrated more, he could've sensed Satoru and he might have been able to get the advantage.

He shook his head and leaning to his left, ''Who're you kidding?'' he asked himself out loud. ''There's no way I could have beaten that guy.'' Hari sat up and reached for the pack of senbons Naruto had placed on nightstand. He threw three simultaneously at the wall. His aim was still true, as he pierced each senbon with another. But he knew that wasn't enough. He needed to know more- a lot more about ninjutsu to stand a chance against guys like Satoru.

Hari reached for the small blank pieces of paper on his nightstand Kirabi had brought him yesterday. He knew what they were, but he hadn't tried to find out his elemental affinity. He didn't know why he didn't, perhaps he felt he didn't deserve to be a shinobi anymore. After all, there was no room in the shinobi world for amateurs, and he had shown just how much of an amateur he was when he fought Satoru. Hari swallowed thickly, taking the paper in his hand. 'I might as well just get this over with and find out,' he thought to himself, channeling chakra through his finger tips into his small, square sheet of paper. Instantly, the paper exploded in a burst of flames. ''What the fuck?''

-ooo-

Yugito woke up with a gasp. She immediately noticed she was feverish and her skin was pale. She didn't need a mirror to know her eyes were slightly red and her lips crusty. 'Chakra exhaustion,' she self-diagnosed as she got up, 'Such a disgrace! I let myself get carried away again and now I lost another day of training.'Yugito got up out of bed and stumbled outside of her tent to find Kirabi sitting on a log, poking the fire. She noted briefly it seemed to be a team habit.

''Good, you're up,'' Kirabi said, throwing Yugito a bottle of water, ''Get ready, we're leaving in ten minutes.''

''Leaving where?'' Yugito asked, taking of the bottle cap and taking a long tug, ''I can't train in this state. I'm suffering of -''

''Chakra exhaustion, I know,'' Kirabi cut her off, ''Which is why it's the perfect moment to continue training you in your jinchūriki form to use higher level of ninjutsu.''

Yugito showed him a rare smile. ''Give me two minutes,'' she told him, getting back into her tent to get equipment.

-ooo-

Naruto cursed loudly, walking in circles around the unconscious form of Emiko. 'What am I going to tell her? If I tell her the same bullshit I told Hari, I know she's going to prod the team about it and they can't know she knows.'

If anyone were to discover he was a jinchūriki… Naruto would have to kill them. That was one of the conditions when he was enrolled into training. Kumo would take him in, fund his training to control his bijū powers but it was a top secret project and anyone who found out had to put down as a matter of national security. As far Naruto knew, the shinobi world was under the belief Kumo had only one jinchūriki, thus Naruto and Yugito were secret weapons- secret weapons under construction. They would be a pair of big targets if the other villages found out, they would be threatened and would seek to destabilize Kumo's military power through assassinating or abduction their jinchūriki.

Naruto didn't mind being restricted to use his own powers, in fact, he was happy about it. The blond hated his bijū more than anything in the world. He had met the beast only once and even that was a vague memory. The beast was truly menacing, a monster of destruction and he didn't want to have anything to do with it. It was the reason he was still only capable of using the firstjinchūriki form, even though Yugito could do one and Kirabi could do all eight. According to Kirabi, Naruto had been a big pain in the council's ass, since they had thrown so much into his funding and the results were less than impressive in their opinions. But Naruto didn't care, he was fine with using the bastard fox's powers when his own life and those of others depended on it, but he would never use it in a fight he could win with his own strength, no matter what the situation.

''Oh,'' Emiko began to wake up with a groan, ''I have got the most splitting- Naruto!'' she shot up, looking around her. ''N - Naruto?'' she asked looking at the blond in front her. ''Is th- that you?''

''Obviously,'' Naruto said in his usual confident voice, ''Are you alright?'' he asked, feigning ignorance. ''You seem a bit pale.''

''But- but I just saw you on the ground and your arms were up in pieces!'' Emiko burst out, ''How are you ok?''

Naruto gave her a questioning look, ''What are you talking about?''

''You just blew yourself up!''

''How?'' he put up his best 'surprised' face for her.

''You used a technique - I don't know! I just remember seeing you blow yourself up!''

''That's impossible,'' Naruto lied, taking on a feigned look of concern, ''Are you alright, Emiko? I just got ready to do my technique when you suddenly fainted. I think it's the fact you haven't eaten for over a day.''

''Yea- yeah, that must be it,'' Emiko said, sitting down, ''I need to get something to eat.''

''I'm on it,'' Naruto said, creating a shadow clone and ordering him to hunt for them. ''I'll have my clone get us something to eat, he'll be back soon.''

''Yeah, good idea,'' Emiko said, ''Thanks.''

Naruto waved it off and turned his back on Emiko and silently sighed, 'Thank goodness.'

-ooo-

''Good,'' Kirabi praised Yugito, who stood with an aura of blue flames surrounding her with a lightning ball in her hand, ''Don't let go of your center. Embrace the power you feel now and remember exactly how it feels. Don't shy away. You are in control now.''

Yugito nodded, ''I think I can increase the output now, sensei,''

''Go ahead, but be careful!'' Kirabi warned her, ''bijū's chakra isn't like human chakra. It's far more potent and can kill anyone around you if you don't know how to control it.''

Yugito nodded, swallowing the lightning ball in her hand by closing her fist. She closed her eyes, going for a tiny bit more of bijū chakra. She heard Kirabi curse and jump back as suddenly she was flaring vividly with blue flames.

''Calm down, Yugito! Relax!''

The blond kunoichi took a deep breath and exhaled softly, her chakra diminished dramatically. She felt the power rush through her veins, she raised her right hand and aimed it on a tree, concentrating lightning chakra to her palm. Instantly, a thick beam of lightning shot off and evaporated half the tree. The beam shot further, destroying half a dozen more trees in the same fashion.

''Bravo!'' Kirabi said, clapping, ''I didn't expect you to enhance your lightning chakra manipulation with your bijū's chakra. Very resourceful!''

Yugito breathed in and out a couple more times and eventually, the bijū's power resided back into her seal. ''That was amazing,'' Yugito panted, dropping to her knees, ''I didn't know I could apply bijū chakra to elemental manipulation.''

''There's a lot you don't know, but that's all for today,'' Kirabi said firmly, getting off the log, ''You're going back to bed and I'll wake you up let's say fifteen hours from now. By then, you should be fully replenished and rested.''

''Fine,'' Yugito said, slightly grumpy, but she followed her teacher nonetheless.

Kirabi closed the tent behind him, leaving a dozen of clones to guard her as she slept and took off to the village to see his other student.

-ooo-

Hari opened his eyes, emerging from his sleep, his hands instantly reaching for the pack of senbons on his nightstand.

''So even in your sleep your sensory skills are working,'' Kirabi said as his student rubbed his eyes and looked at him. ''Quite impressive.''

''Thanks,'' Hari said bitterly.

''No need to be bitter about it, you're sensory skills exceed mine already and I've had it since I was seventeen, which is ten years ago.''

''Well, it's not much of a help in battle is it?'' Hari asked angrily, ''It's not like a blast of lightning or a -''

''Are you stupid?'' Kirabi cut off his student, ''Not much of a help?'' he repeated incredulously, ''In case you haven't noticed, you managed to make an instant deduction of your opponent's weakness and how his technique worked. Your chakra sensory skills go as far as identifying elemental chakra signatures.''

''Well, I want some real jutsu too! You can't expect me to fight guys like that Satoru bastard without a couple of decent jutsu! He was playing with me!'' Hari shouted, ''He wasn't even trying and he spared me! Now I just found out I got an extreme high affinity for fire, just watch,'' he picked up another sheet of paper and made it explode, ''That has to mean I can take on Satoru if I have the right jutsu!''

Kirabi sighed, ''Impressive affinity, but I know what you're thinking,'' he said, ''You feel weak because the only ninjutsu you know are low level ones and since you fought and saw what kind of jutsu you'll be facing in the real world, you want more power. You're full of rage because you got beaten, even though your opponent was far more powerful and experienced than you are.''

''Yes!'' Hari shouted, ''So why can't you train me? You've been training Naruto and Yugito since they were -''

''Don't even go there,'' Kirabi said sharply, ''Don't think for a second I'm playing favourites, _ever_. Understood?''

Hari instantly regretted his outburst. ''I'm sorry, sensei. I shouldn't have let out my frustrations on you. You've been nothing but supportive since you became my sensei.''

''That's right,'' Kirabi said, ''And as soon as you're better, I'll give you a little scroll I found in the jōnin section of the jutsu library. Then you'll have something to brag about.''

Hari grinned, ''But I'm fine now, sensei. See?'' Hari asked, getting out of bed. He was indeed looking better. The boiling water marks were still there, but much lighter of colour, the slash across his chest was wrapped in fresh bandage, but it seemed healthy enough and the cut under Hari's left eye was stitched up. Only his left shoulder remained an unhealthy bluish color.

''Your shoulder -''

''Is fine,'' Hari cut off his sensei. ''It hurts a little with excessive movement, but I'm right handed anyway and everything is achieved with pain, right?''

''Damn it,'' Kirabi said, chuckling, ''When it comes to new jutsu, there's no stopping you guys, huh?''

''No chance in hell,'' Hari shot back fiercely, his onyx eyes glinting with that twisted smile he and Naruto used to do during a good sparring match.

Kirabi got up from his seat, ''Alright, get dressed and meet me outside in two minutes. Dress warm.''

…

''This is so hot!'' Hari complained, pulling at his navy blue turtle neck sweater. The brown haired teenager wore black cargo trousers, a new pair of black combat boots and a black, long-sleeved jacket. His sensei wasn't kidding when he told him to dress warm, having bought the teen a new set of clothes from the shabby markets.

''It's good for your rehabilitation,'' Kirabi said, ''Not stop whining and follow me!''

He ran to the far east side of the village into the forest and took the trees, Hari, although sluggish, not far behind. He led his student into a clearing, not far the village and stopped, turning around. Kirabi fished a thick red scroll from his default pouch and handed it to Hari who took it.

''There's only a few techniques in that scroll,'' Kirabi said, ''But they're extremely powerful, especially if you use them right.''

''They're that strong?'' Hari asked.

''Yes,'' Kirabi said with a nod, ''And don't rip the scroll, I happened to borrow this from the jutsu library. I was going use the theories behind the fire based jutsu for an original lightning based jutsu.''

Hari grinned, albeit nervously. He didn't expect to get what he wanted so easily, and now that he was about to learn these techniques, he felt more intimidated than ever. ''Sensei, how do I control the fire? There are theories surrounding it that one must draw on his anger to -''

''Those theories are bullshit with only an ounce of truth to back them up,'' Kirabi immediately said. ''It's true you can strengthen your elemental techniques by fuelling them with emotions, but you don't have to use rage to get stronger fire techniques or have a ridiculous stubborn way of thinking to get stronger wind jutsu. Yugito believes the theory is true when it's about lightning techniques, but I didn't burst her bubble because she needs that theory to be good at what she is.''

''Alright, I think I'm ready.''

''Good, I'll be back to check on you in an hour.''

''W- wait, you're letting me do this alone?'' Hari asked, ''Isn't that a bit dangerous?''

''You'll eventually learn that discovering things for yourself is better than having your teacher tell it to you,'' Kirabi said walking away, ''This the time for you to start thinking on your own. Don't see this as another training exercise. See this as a calling. You need to want to learn and you need to want to do this by yourself. It's the only way a shinobi truly develops into something great.''

''You- you think I can become someone great?'' Hari shouted to his teacher.

Kirabi held up his hand and said, ''I know you can!'' and instantly disappeared, leaving Hari alone. The genin grinned fiercely, the insane glint of excitement in his eyes once more. It was time to change for him to change for the better. It was time for him to develop to the next level.''

-ooo-

Naruto sat down, reading his scroll for the tenth time. Why did it go wrong? Why did the technique backfire on him so violently? He had it under control for less than three seconds when it went wrong. 'What did go wrong?' Naruto asked himself, 'I was determined to succeed! I was determined to do the jutsu!'

''OK,'' he took a deep breath and summoned chakra, ''I know I can do this! I just have to stop being afraid!''

''Speaking to yourself isn't really a good sign,'' Emiko said cheekily, leaning against a tree, finishing up the last of her fish.

Naruto ignored her. ''Fūton! Shippū Shūren no Jutsu!'' he shouted. Instantly, wind gushed around his arms, the visible drills forming. They were smaller than last time. 'Alright, control yourself, Naruto. Be determined, not overconfident. Relax and focus…'The Hurricane Drills screeched and Naruto closed his eyes. 'I can do this!'He rushed, running at a big boulder, the size of a small hut. Naruto jumped into the air, aimed his drills at the boulder and shot straight at his at brake neck speed.

_BANG!_

''Ah!'' he shouted in pain, landing on his back.

''You did it!'' Emiko said, jumping up and clapping her hands. ''You did it! Naruto? Are you-''

''I'm fine!'' Naruto said, instantly recognizing the concern in her voice as he climbed to his feet. ''I'm fine,'' he repeated, ''Really.''

''What's up with you?'' Emiko asked, slightly put off by his lack of excitement. ''I though you would be jumping around, all happy-go like last time.''

Naruto frowned, ''I haven't come close to mastering the technique,'' he said, ''Last time I was overconfident and I allowed my chakra control to falter. I don't even know the full extent of this jutsu's power. Just now, I used as little as I could muster and I coated my arms with chakra. That took maybe ten percent of chakra, more probably. That's unacceptable.''

''Last time?'' Emiko questioned. ''I thought you - ''

''You went to the bathroom,'' Naruto quickly lied, ''Remember like ten minutes ago?''

''Aha...'' Emiko said, wondering why she didn't hear such an impact.

''Anyway,'' Naruto said, changing the subject, ''I've got to meditate about this a bit more.''

''Meditate?'' Emiko said, not believing what he had just said, ''You?''

''Yeah,'' Naruto said, slightly indignant, ''I occasionally meditate!'' Truth be told, he never would've done if weren't for the fact Kirabi had told him a million times that meditation was good to relax one's self and gain enlightenment. Meditation was a crucial part in his training in controlling his _jinchūriki_ powers.

-ooo-

''Katon! Endan!'' Hari dropped to his knees, the jutsu didn't live up to his expectations. It was supposed to be the size of a - fucks knows. It was supposed to be big, but it came out barely the size of a beach ball. This was his hundred and tenth shot at it. ''Damn it!''

He yearned for water- cold water. He also wished he could take off the ridiculous amount of clothes wore. 'Who, in the right mind, would wear a turtle neck while practicing with fire jutsu?'Hari pulled himself together and got up. This was a crucial part of his training. He had to be determined, ready and he needed to use his rage.

''Rage...'' he sounded bitter. He knew he was angry deep down, but he couldn't draw on it. Not after what _he _did to - ''No!'' Hari shouted. ''No!'' he repeated once more. He had successfully shut that out of his mind for years.

'I want to protect, not harm,' Hari decided… and then it hit him. ''Wait a minute...''

He remembered Kirabi's words vividly, as if the jōnin was saying it to him now. _''Those theories are bullshit with only an ounce of truth to back them up.''_

''Yeah,'' Hari said to himself, his hand going through hand seals. ''I don't need to be angry to be good at what I am. I just need to believe I know that I can do it! I need to have something that keeps me true to myself.'' And then a something is heart and mind spoke up. He wanted to protect those close to him. Hari moulded chakra into his lungs. He wanted to be there for those he loved, unlike that bastard. Hari smiled, ending his array of hand seals and landing on the tiger hand seal, he shouted, as loud as his lungs permitted him, ''KATON! ENDAN!''

An enormous blast of fire escaped his mouth, taking the form of a small house. Hari managed to maintain its enormous form for less than ten seconds, when it grew smaller and eventually disappeared completely. Hari dropped to his knees, chuckling, despite his throat being dry, his eyes lazy in exhaustion and his limps crusty and trembling. Hari's eyes rolled back as he collapsed to the ground.

Kirabi dropped out of the tree, walking to his student's unconscious form. He boomed with laughter, ''You'll go far in our world, Hari. There aren't many with a heart as kind and loyal, or minds and swift and intelligent.'' Kirabi picked up his student, slinging him over his shoulder. ''Years from now, people will talk about me being the sensei of the three greatest shinobi Kumo ever produced! I can't wait!'' With another booming chuckle, Kirabi left the clearing, Hari's unconscious form on his shoulder as he began to make his ridiculous beat boxing sounds.

-ooo-

The following morning, Emiko woke up. She yawned, getting up, her back was slightly sore from leaning against a tree all night. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she noticed Naruto was still in his meditative state, sitting cross-legged in his boxers in the cold stream of the river with his hands in a hand seal of sorts. His breath was deep, his eyes were closed, he seemed at peace. It was as if he was sleeping.

''Naruto?'' Emiko asked questioningly. ''Are you asleep?''

Naruto did not answer, prompting Emiko to believe he was indeed sleeping. The purple haired girl closed in on the blond genin. ''Naruto?'' she asked once more.

''I'm not asleep,'' Naruto finally said, unmoving. His voice seemed deeper for some reason.

''Thanks for the quick reply,'' Emiko said sarcastically, ''I thought you were asleep.''

''I'm not awake either,'' Naruto said cryptically.

''What's that supposed to mean?''

This time Naruto did not answer, his lips remained slightly apart longer than you would, were he awake. Emiko sat for an hour, occasionally asking questions, which he would answer after a long period of time.

''I'm ready,'' Naruto suddenly said, ''I can do the jutsu.''

''Don't you mean you can _think_ you can do the jutsu now?''

''No,'' Naruto said firmly, standing up. ''I have discovered something.''

''What?''

''I'll tell you later, but for now, just get out of the way.''

Emiko quickly did so. There was something about Naruto. He spoke with conviction, as if he knew he was right. As it was just a fact. She gulped, seeing the blond swiftly going through hand seals, his hands blurry.

''Fuuton! Shippū Shūren no Jutsu!'' Naruto said loudly. Instantly, the drills of wind appeared around his arms, far thicker and screeching much louder than they did the previous day. Naruto set his eyes on a patch of trees, grown close to each other. His face was impassive as Yugito's right now. He didn't take a deep breath as he did before. He took a stance and instantly burst forwards, pushing his legs to the limit, without the use of chakra.

The trees obliterated in front of Emiko's eyes. Naruto didn't see the effect, he was standing with his back facing the trees, which were completely pulverized, broken down to wood dust and tiny pieces. Naruto was not done yet, ignoring Emiko's happy squeal as she clapped. The blond genin turned to a boulder that was sticking out by at least ten feet above the foot high water of the river mouth they were. He set his eyes on it, his face impassive still and darted off. He jumped high into the air, the drills as big as they were moments before. He pierced the thick boulder with both drills of wind. It instantly shattered with a loud _crack_. Naruto gracefully used the blast to back flip and land in a crouch, his arms spread as the drills instantly disappeared.

''That - that was amazing!'' Emiko shouted, ''How come you had such control?''

Naruto stood up, taking on a stupid heroic pose, rubbing his finger under his nose. ''Meditation!''

''Meditation? _Right_,'' Emiko said.

Naruto grinned stupidly, when he fell backwards, landing in an ungraceful heap, instantly asleep. Emiko sighed, a crooked smile on her face.

''Idiot.''

-ooo-

Satoru stopped his stride, as he walked through the forest.

It was early and the sun was rising, casting the sky in a lovely shade of orange and blue with but a few clouds. The swordsman stopped midstride and his hand instantly shooting for the hilt of his sword. ''Come out, Takezo, I can smell your stench.''

_Clang!_

Satoru's blade stalemated with another and he looked into the fierce brown eyes of Takezo, who grinned madly.

''Hello, Satoru-teme,'' Takezo's brownish-red blade glinted in the light of the sun rising. ''I heard you gave some of my men some trouble.''

Satoru scoffed arrogantly with a mirthless, though provocative smile. ''You're men resemble you. They are nothing but overconfident amateurs, I felt obliged to rectify that.''

Takezo growled, and applied more pressure behind his blade. He howled, cutting through Satoru's blade and cutting him deeply in his right shoulder. Satoru smiled, suddenly dropping down, revealing to be an ice clone, leaving a thick cover of ice on Takezo's blade which began to grow, encasing the blade in more ice. Steel as cold as ice touched Takezo's neck, his beard turned white with ice.

''Hmph,'' Takezo grunted, shifting his head, seeing Satoru's back turned to him and his pale hand holding the blade to his neck. He could practically _feel_ him smirk. ''Not bad, when did you make the clone?''

''The second I smelled your disgusting stench,'' Satoru said, raising his blade and sheathing it in his scabbard. ''You should take a shower.''

"Aye?'' Takezo grunted again as his blade broke down from its solid for to sand grains. ''And you should get laid once in a while,'' the brutish samurai grunted back and his blade grew back to its original size. ''Look at what you did to poor Kuma-chan.''

''You should not challenge me again, who knows, my blade may slip and slit your throat.''

''Perhaps you think to highly of yourself,'' Takezo challenged. ''I cannot wait till the day this is over. I shall strike you down with nothing but pleasure.''

''I would love to see you try, scum.'' Satoru growled, as Takezo sank into the earth of the forest, a smile that went unseen on his face. ''Fool,'' he said to no one in particular as he continued his stride.

* * *

**_Author's Notes_**

A big thanks goes out to all readers and reviewers, you make my day and motivate him more than you think.

Enjoy, read and please **review!**

…

**Jutsu Used:**

_(Jutsu: Shippū Shūren – Hurricane Drills!) – B rank, offensive, short range. The user summons a large amount of chakra and, if needed, coats his appendages with chakra. Then, the user simply spins wind chakra around his arms. The spinning of wind chakra is only necessary for a few seconds. Afterwards, the wind chakra will continue to swirl around the arms. At this point, the tendrils vibrant at an extreme high frequency and screech loudly. The technique can then easily pulverize trees and shatter boulders. The true potential of this technique has yet to be met. _

_(Jutsu: Katon! Endan - Fire Release! Fire Ball Technique!) – C rank, offensive, mid range. The Endan jutsu is a C leveled jutsu that utilizes the fire element. By channeling and moulding chakra to the lungs, the user can create a spark and blow out a ball of fire. Those like Hari, who have an extremely high affinity with fire can take this jutsu to the level and expand its heat output and enhance its destructive capabilities._


	7. The Legend Unravelled

**Kumogakure Ninja**

Posted: 28-09-09

Updated: 28-06-11

* * *

CH7: The Legend Unravelled

* * *

(Ritoru Haaku)

Takeshi Takezo was a proud man, living by the samurai honour code ever since he could remember. His bushidō was simple and of a few choice words but he lived by it strictly and thus never laid hands on women, children and generally the defenceless (though there were exceptions to this). Takeshi was born as Yamaken Takezo but had changed his surname when he became of age as he felt his clan had degenerated to the point he could not consider them civilised warriors. At aged forty-five, Takezo was unmarried and had only a very few select people he called a friend.. Takezo was not a horrible man, in fact, those that knew him saw him as a man of honour and respect. He considered himself to be powerful, being proficient with earth jutsu like the rest of his clan.

Samurai and other non-shinobi's did not refer to jutsu as ninjutsu, that was simply shinobi arrogance. No, in the real world they referred to it as soshijutsu, the art of manipulating the elements.

Apart from his skill in soshijjutsu, Takezo was a master of the blade and wielded his Kyōsei Ken, Tsuchi Kuma with grace. He had spent many years being a wandering samurai, learning under notable figures such as Torimaru, the blade master of the east and Kendo, the legendary smith that travelled in the south. It would be an understatement to say Takeshi Takezo was a man of power. Unlike shinobi and quite a few samurai, Takezo did not believe in fighting without emotion, this being evident in his behaviour towards fellow Kyōsei Ken holder, Satoru. That man was the only one that could anger him with just his presence. It was not that Takezo was jealous of Satoru for being a shade more powerful, it was the way the white haired warrior - as he was _not _a samurai - carried himself. Satoru wielded a Kyōsei Ken, and it was powerful one, powerful enough to challenge his own and thus a rivalry had begun between the two of them.

''Fucking brat,'' Takezo voiced his displeasure and unclasped his drinking flask and took a sip of his sake. It was bitter and cold, exactly how he liked it. ''Get back to work! Brake's over!'' Takezo barked to his men, who were on a break, ''Back into the submachines or whatever you fuckin' call 'em! We have to have checked every inch of the river by tonight!''

''Yes, sir!'' their voices rang.

''Fucking amateurs,'' Takezo grumbled, kicking one of the younger labourers' behind. Takezo looked to the commotion on his left, where a submarine had emerged. ''What's going on? Get back to work!'' he barked.

''I found something!'' one of the samurais shouted. ''I think they're the remains of Tōshirō no Shiroi and Yamaken Kuma!''

''What?''

_(TL: Kyōsei Ken translates to 'great sword' and Tsuchi Kuma translates to 'earth bear' & Soshijutsu translates to 'elemental techniques.')_

-ooo-

''You know,'' Emiko said, breathing heavily as she supported the sleeping Naruto's weight on her back, ''For a skinny boy, you're heavy!'' Emiko blushed lightly, this wasn't the kind of way a girl should take a boy home. Naruto legs were circled around her waist and his hands dangled over her shoulder, far too close to her chest. ''You up yet?''

Naruto didn't respond, he had been sleeping for nearly thirty minutes. Emiko doubted he'd wake up before the sun went down. Definitely not with all the training and lack of sleep he suffered.

'Still,' Emiko thought, 'You gotta admire his determination.'

They arrived at Naruto's camp ten minutes later. Emiko dropped the blond unceremoniously. Her back was aching, but she pressed on. She unzipped a tent which she knew to be Naruto's as his name was printed on it. She awkwardly dragged the boy inside, and laid him out on his sleeping bag and quickly left the tent.

''What are you doing?'' Yugito rasped at the sight of Emiko, she had a kunai blade in her hand and looked extremely pale and sweaty, telltale signs of chakra exhaustion.

''I, er…'' Emiko stumbled over words at the sight of the small blade, ''I was bringing Naruto back. He kind of collapsed on me.''

''How is he?'' Yugito asked.

''He- he's fine, I think. Just tired.''

Yugito nodded, ''I should go back to bed, you should get some rest too. You look fatigued.''

''Yeah, I'll do that,'' Emiko said nervously. There was something about Yugito that unnerved her. She turned on her heels and made her way to the village, longing for something soft to lay her back on.

-ooo-

Seiichi growled, the echo carrying it away throughout the tomb. He could practically smell the fear rolling of his elite samurai guards. This was taking far too long! He needed the damn submarine troops to find the blades and quick. His time was running out, that snake bastard, Orochimaru, was making moves and furthermore, he had threejinchūrikimessing with his plans. He doubted the boy and girl would be much of threat, but the older one, Yotsuki Kirabi was different. He knew that he couldn't take on the jōnin without the power of his Biju, let alone with it. He cursed those fools for sending this monster to the village.

Seiichi took comfort in the fact back up would never arrive. Not with those idiots of Kumo in his pockets. But, nonetheless, he needed those swords. He needed to find out the secret of the legendary swords. Kyōsei Ken were not nothing compared to the Shinken. Despite the obvious power Kyōsei Ken displayed, it was nowhere near the destructive power of the Shinken.

''Brother,'' Shinji called, entering the room, wearing his black battle kimono and equally pitch black haori with blood red kanjis on it that said ''Illusionist Demon'' on the back of haori.

Seiichi growled at his younger brother's insolence as he greeted with his over-cheery, obnoxious voice. ''Has my disease made me unworthy of a respectful bow, my younger brother?'' The question was rhetorical.

Catching on quickly, Shinji did a deep, gracious bow, ''No, Seiichi-niisama, of course not,'' he said, ''I just came here to inform you Takezo's team found the remains.''

''What?'' Seiichi growled, ''When?''

''Ten minutes ago.''

''Fetch me my robe!'' Seiichi barked at one of the servants, ''This is going to be good,'' he said with a dark chuckle, allowing his servant to drape him in the robe.

''Of course,'' Shinji said, the stupid smile plastered on his face, with his always slit eyes perched, glinting the black orbs beneath his eyelids. ''We are, after all the Akumu Shokō!''

_(TL: Shinken translates to 'legendary blade.')_

-ooo-

Naruto woke up with a dry cough. His lips were crusted and this throat was dry. He needed water and a lot of it. Stumbling out of the tent, Naruto grabbed a bottle of water from his backpack and began drinking it.

''She brought you here,'' Yugito said, making her presence known.

Naruto resisted the urge to jump. How was it that she _always _sneaked up on him? He turned to Yugito, ''What?'' he asked.

''That villager, Emiko is her name, I believe, she brought you here, in case you forgot.''

''Oh,'' the blond resisted the urge to blush. Getting carried home by a girl wasn't exactly cool. ''Yeah, well - yeah,'' he cut himself of and sat down on a branch opposite of Yugito. ''About last time -''

''We don't need to talk about this,'' Yugito sharply cut of, ''That was two days ago. It is in the past.''

Naruto sighed, picking up a stick and began poking the fire. ''You don't have to get offended,'' he said, ''I know what you were thinking about.''

''Oh _really?_ You _know_ what I was thinking about?'' Yugito snapped sarcastically, ''Then tell me what I was thinking about, Uzumaki.''

He looked her sharply in the eye as she spat out his name as if were venom. ''You're remembering it, aren't you?''

''What?''

''You're remembering what happened when you went crazy last time you used Nibi's powers, right?''

Yugito swallowed thickly. She didn't expect him to get so close to the real answer.

''I know, because it happens to me and, even though he doesn't admit it, Kirabi too,'' he said, ''Kirabi never told me what happened when he was a kid, but I can guess it wasn't pretty. The same goes for the both of us. We should be happy we found a place we belong in Kumo.''

''Hmph,'' Yugito stood up, ''Just shut your mouth, Uzumaki. You speak of that you have no idea of.''

Naruto didn't reply, choosing to poke the fire with his stick. He didn't care what she thought of him. She was a bitch in every sense of the word and only reason he would ever talk to her was because of her status as a jinchūriki_._ Naruto got up, cursing the blond kunoichi as he entered his tent. He quickly fell asleep.

-ooo-

Hari was in bed, sitting up straight and going through hand seals of the next jutsu he was going to learn. He was quite pleased with himself. Learning jutsu was the best way to get rid of depression. He couldn't believe how powerful his Endan had been.

The brown haired Kumogakure genin looked at the scratched clock hanging in his room. It was six, meaning he could still get some practice in. With a juvenile grin Hari jumped out of bed, chuckling darkly as he pulled on his socks and boots, as though he was committing an unspeakable crime.

''Going somewhere?''

Hari nearly jumped out of his skin. ''Ehehehe,'' he nervously chuckling, turning to Kirabi, hanging upside down from the roof, his muscular arms crossed. ''I, was, er just getting some sleep.''

Kirabi chuckled as Hari sighed in defeat, taking of his boots and socks. ''You can't push yourself too much if you want to get back to proper training.''

''I know, I know,'' Hari let himself drop on his bed with a groan, ''This just sucks so bad.''

''Well, then you shouldn't have gotten your ass kicked, huh?'' Kirabi said, booming with laughter.

Hari rolled his eyes, ''Whatever. I get the message, I'll go to bed now.''

''You better, cause I'm just a clone, so I can stay here as long as needed.''

''You really think I'll betray your trust?'' Hari asked, feigning hurt.

''Yep,'' Kirabi's clone deadpanned.

''Damn it.''

-ooo-

In an underground cavern, the Akumu Shokō made their way to a tomb much smaller than their own. Seiichi growled, he did not like to leave his chamber, but this was for a good reason. Shinji walked behind his older brother, his never ending smile on his face. They arrived in a small open area where many samurai stood in neat rows. None of them face the brothers directly, standing with straight backs, their hands on their hilts. Seiichi growled for no particular reason, approaching Takezo, who bowed in greeting and turned around.

''Show me,'' Seiichi demanded, ignoring Takezo's boisterous grin, ''Show me the remains of Tōshirō no Shiroi and Yamaken.''

''Immediately, my masters,'' Takezo said, as they neared a table constructed of earth. The table had a white cloth on it, made of soft fabric. On top of the cloth there were two pair bones neatly separated and in two separate vats were two brains. ''There are the remains of the blade masters you sought. My great grandfather Yamaken Kuma and his opponent in honourable battle, Tōshirō no Shiroi.''

''What of the blades?'' Seiichi growled, ''The blades are what are really important.''

Takeshi Takezo bit back the urge to violently lash out. How dare this man mock his legendary great grandfather? ''I apologize, my master, the remains were all that we found. It is possible the blades drifted on wards to the sea or made its way to another river by the river mouths.''

Seiichi's black orbs glared into those of Takezo, who, due to his samurai pride, neither flinched nor looked away. The Nightmare Lord grinned menacingly, ''Have your men immediately check _Ritoru Haaku's_ river. It is the closest. Do not engage any enemy unless you're attacked first or they interfere. You're in charge till we're finished here. Satoru shall join you in the battle, you know how to get a hold of him.''

''As you wish,'' Takezo said, bowing deeply once more and making his way out of the cavern. ''Mount up!'' Takezo shouted. His samurai warriors instantly followed him.

Seiichi waited several minutes till the sound of horses trampling the earth vanished. ''Shinji,'' Seiichi said, ''You know what to do.''

''Of course, Nii-sama,'' Shinji said, his hands going through an extremely long array of two hundred eightieth hand seals and dipped his hands in both vats. Chakra strings latched on the brains. ''Ninpō Hijutsu! Jyigaku! Omoide no Shi no Jutsu!'' Seichi grabbed his younger brother's shoulder and within a split second, their eyes went white.

_(Jutsu: Ninpō Hijutsu! Jyigaku! Omoide no Shi no Jutsu – Hidden Ninja Arts! Time Reversal! Memories of the Deceased!)_

-ooo-

The following day, Naruto woke up with a content groan. He felt so refreshed as he got out of sleeping bag and exiting his tent. A screeching sound caught his attention. Naruto found Yugito about fifty yards from the camp, crouching and going through an array of hand seals.

''Raiton! Raikyū no Jutsu!'' the blond kunoichi set of at an impressive speed and planted her hand in a thick rock, as if she was poking through butter with a hot knife. The rock instantly shattered.

''Hmph,'' Naruto scoffed cockily, ''Is that your best technique?''

''Uzumaki,'' Yugito sneered. It seemed their relationship had shifted back to how it used to be; full of contempt and solid dislike. ''Care for a morning beat down?''

''Don't flatter yourself, Nii, you're nowhere near my level,'' Naruto shot back, his sneer equal to Yugito's.

''Just keep telling yourself that. Whatever makes you sleep, right?''

''I got exactly what you need to get to sleep, a good fist in the face.''

Yugito growled at Naruto, who stared contemptuously back, before looking away, mentally cursing himself for initiating a staring contest with the jinchūriki of a demonic _cat _for the hundredth time. Yugito sneered in contempt, finding small pride in the fact she could stare the longest.

''Care to show me what you learned then, Uzumaki?'' Yugito asked.

''Not really. A bitch like you isn't worth the chakra,'' Naruto shot back.

''Go fuck yourself.''

Grinning, Naruto turned on his heels, shoving his hands in his pockets and making his way to river, ignoring the slightly happy feeling in his gut. At least things were getting back to normal and he had won the first round. Yugito never spoke crudely unless she was royally pissed off. Something he hadn't achieved in a year. _''Naruto one, Yugito zero.''_

-ooo-

''Fūton! Akkai Genshuku!''

The gravity palm strike sped over the river, causing a small divide in the water as it flew across the river. Naruto grinned at his handiwork and took a good look at the river. He had yet to see the entire entity of it. The only bit he had seen was the part closest to his camp. Naruto knew the river was _huge _though. But Kirabi had explicitly forbid them to go farther than where he was now.

''Katon! Endan no Jutsu!''

Naruto's instincts kicked in and he instantly jumped into the air with a chakra enhanced jump, narrowly avoiding the enormous ball of fire under his feet. He looked down, to the left, seeing someone chuckling. ''Son of a bitch!'' Naruto shouted, creating a shadow clone, which spun him in the air and launched him at his attacker. Naruto made impact, head first, knocking his opponent twenty feet back.

''H- Hari?'' Naruto asked, recognizing his team mate holding his head as they both got up, ''What the hell was that? And what the hell are you doing out of bed?''

Hari laughed, ''Sensei gave me this scroll he allegedly _borrowed_ from the library. I've got an kick ass affinity for fire, you should've seen the one I did yesterday,'' Hari caught his friend's stern look and chuckled, ''Don't worry, the frost bite's gone - well nearly.''

''So you came here for an ass kicking, huh?'' Naruto challenged, his look instantly gone, ''Don't think I'll hold back just cause you got your ass kicked!'' It felt like an million years ago since they last sparred.

''Screw you,'' Hari said, rolling his eyes, but he chuckled anyway. ''Let's do this!''

With a battle cry, the teens attacked each other. Naruto went in for a right hook, which Hari ducked under and tried to counter with a knee in the blonds ribs but Naruto caught his left knee, jumped back and spun Hari's leg and let go, sending him flying in a spiral. Hari back flipped mid-air and landed in a crouch, kicking up dirt as he skidded.

''Not bad!''

Naruto grinned and rushed at Hari, creating two shadow clones. Hari attempted to kick in the incoming blond, but Naruto slid under his legs, one of the clones jumping on his stretched out leg and upper cut him with a swift kick as it back flipped, leaving the second clone to bull charge Hari in the side as he flew.

Hari whipped of blood from his lips with the back of his fist. ''You asked for this!'' he shouted to Naruto as he went through an array of seals, ''I've just learned the theory, so keep your smart remarks to yourself if it doesn't work out!''

''Just do it, ya amateur!''

Hari's black eyes glinted insanely, ''Amateur?'' he asked, ''I'll show you amateur!'' he shouted ending on the forty-forth hand seal, inhaling and shouting, ''Katon! Karyūdan no Jutsu!''

Naruto's eyes widened at the enormous blast of fire crashing down on him. Acting on pure instincts, the blond went through and quick array of seals and shouted, ''Fūton! Daitoppa no Jutsu!''

The blasts merged together into a tornado of fire before an explosion sent both teens flying and skidding over the ground as they came to painful stops.

''Argh!'' Naruto shouted, holding his arm as it popped back into place. ''Hari?'' he shouted getting up and looking around him.

''I'm here!''

Naruto looked up a thick three to see Hari lying in a quite pathetic position, groaning in pain. Naruto held his sides in laughter pointing at his friend, doing a little dance. The situation was just far too comical not to laugh at. ''You suck!'' he said. ''How _uncool _is that?''

''Go fuck yourself,'' Hari shot back moodily, shakily getting up and standing on the branch.

Unfortunately for him, this just made Naruto laugh even more. Tears started to form at the corner of the blonde's eyes as he fell back still shaking with laughter. It took a good five minutes to get the blond to stop laughing.

''You're an idiot,'' Hari insulted, ''What kind of shinobi throws a wind jutsu against a fire jutsu?''

Naruto shrugged, ''I don't know, but they should do it more often if it gives results like this!'' The blond laughed, infuriating Hari, who plopped down in front of the blond.

''So, what do we do now?'' Hari asked, ''Where's sensei?''

''Who knows? His clone was gone this morning.''

The two spent the next hour talking about their new techniques and whatever came to their minds. It was good to sit down and just talk once in a while. The sun glowed brightly, the wind was refreshing and soothing. Normally, their days would be filled with training and nonsense missions like saving a cat or running errands for the elderly.

''Let's go back to camp, I think sensei will be back soon,'' Hari said, standing up and getting dirt of his pants.

''Can't you sense him or something?'' Naruto asked.

''It doesn't work like that, idiot.''

''Fine, sounds like a lame ability anyway.''

''What?''

…

The short walk home was filled with childish banter and insults. When they arrived at camp, Hari's expectations proved to be true. Kirabi was crouched in front of the fire, in the middle of roasting fish.

''Sensei?'' Naruto asked, ''Where did you go?''

''Huh?'' Kirabi stood up, turning to the pair, scratching the back of his head, ''I was sending another back up request. I don't know why it's taking so long to get a reply...''

''You think someone's taking out the birds you send, Kirabi-sensei?'' Yugito asked, whipping away sweat from her forehead and taking a tug from her water bottle. ''Standard procedure is an immediate reply to all back up requests, correct?''

''Correct,'' Kirabi confirmed, sitting on one of the logs surround the fire. ''We should've gotten a reply by now.''

''So, what do we do now?'' Hari asked, sitting on a log and grabbing a fish that seemed ready. ''We know the Akumu Shokō are no pushovers and they got at least one other strong ally with them that defeated me in seconds.''

''We can't leave the people behind!'' Naruto immediately said, his eyes glowing fiercely. ''I say we round up all villagers and get them out of here. There's another village not too far from here, right?''

''What are you saying, Uzumaki?'' Yugito said, ''That's impossible.''

''What are _you _saying, Nii?'' Naruto shot back, ''I can make a thousand clones and lead them away from here, so what's the problem?''

''How do you plan on moving the ill? They need medicine, water, food, clothes- to sum it up, we can't move them,'' Yugito said. The kunoichi scoffed when Naruto had nothing to say back. ''How can you call yourself a shinobi? You're letting your emotions get the better of you. It's pathetic.''

Kirabi sighed as Naruto growled angrily. ''She does make a point, Naruto,'' Kirabi said.

''Wait!'' Hari said, ''This area is full of herbs and other natural medicine,'' Hari explained, ''If I can show Naruto which ones to gather and he makes enough clones, we can get enough for the entire trip! As for food, we can electrocute the river again, that's how we got so many last time and I bet we can spare some summoning scrolls for supplies.''

''Yeah!'' Naruto said, turning to his friend with a big smile, ''We can do this.''

''No we can't,'' Yugito said, ''Even if we could waste our time on this, it still wouldn't work.''

''Why not?'' Naruto asked angrily, ''Why the hell wouldn't you want to help these people?''

''Because it is not our mission to help them and it is not up to us whether we do this or not!'' Yugito shouted at him, losing her patience. ''Besides, why do you think this is the only village under Kumo's protection? The myths surrounding this village may actually be true. If the legend Kirabi-sensei told us is true, it is only a matter of time the Akumu Shokō make their move! We cannot move these people anywhere since the other villages despise them!''

Naruto cursed under his breath and turned to Kirabi in the hope his sensei, ''What do you think, sensei? You're the leader!''

''Well,'' Kirabi said, rubbing his chin, ''I know where you're coming from, Naruto, but Yugito makes more sense. It's not that we don't want to help these people, it's that it'll be pointless to lead them to other villages where no one will help them out of spite.''

''Then me and Hari are alone in this one,'' Naruto shouted, picking up his scrolls and turning around. Hari followed suit, smiling apologetically to Kirabi.

''What do you think you're doing, Uzumaki?'' Yugito hissed at him, appearing in front of the pair, ''Do you have any idea what kind of repercussions your actions will have back in Kumo? Defying an direct -''

''Shut the hell up!'' Naruto shouted at her, his eyes switched to blood red slit for an instant as he neared her. ''Get out of my way or I'll make you.''

Yugito was not one to be intimidated, _ever._ ''You think you can make me, Uzumaki?'' She said, her hand sliding to her kunai holster, ''Then make your move.''

''Enough!'' Kirabi bellowed. ''Yugito, stand down!''

''What?'' Yugito shouted unbelieving, ''You're letting them go after such disrespect and -''

''Enough,'' Kirabi said so low, Yugito instantly shut up. Their sensei may be an odd one, but he had an enormous amount of patience and self-control, but when he got angry, it was best to do as told.

''Yes, sensei,'' Yugito stepped aside, letting Naruto and Hari pass as she glared contemptuously at the blond genin. As the two left the encampment and got further and further away, Yugito turned back to Kirabi. ''Why would you let them go?'' she demanded.

''Because, they would've gone anyway,'' Kirabi said, turning to the fire with a sigh and grabbing a fish and throwing it to Yugito who swiftly caught it and sat down opposite of him.

''So you just let them go?'' Yugito asked, ''Even though they broke all regulations and -''

''If I stopped Naruto, I might as well have ripped his heart out,'' Kirabi interrupted, taking a bite of his own fish.

''What?''

''You heard me,'' Kirabi said quietly. ''If there's one thing I know about Naruto, it's that he is compassionate to all forms of life. He can't help but want to help those can't help themselves. He is simply too attuned to the misery around him.''

''Then he is more an inept shinobi than I thought,'' Yugito said, he beautiful face in a scowl.

''Is it?'' Kirabi asked, genuinely interested in what she thought.

''Shinobi must obey the rules at all times. Personal feelings have no meaning in battle.''

''Is that what you tell yourself at night?'' Kirabi asked her, an edge of pity to his tone, ''I know that's not how you truly feel, Yugito.''

Yugito scoffed, ''What's that supposed to mean?''

''You know what it means.''

''No, how about you tell me?''

''Alright, I will,'' Kirabi threw his mauled fish aside and looked the blond in the eye. ''I know that you're scared to be like Naruto. You hate the thought of being like him, and I don't blame you. You don't want to be vulnerable. But the difference between you and Naruto is that even though he had a miserable past similar to yours, he looks past that to the life he has. He lives in the present time, unlike you who lives in the past and hopes only for the future. You're so young and beautiful yet you don't enjoy life. You have endless potential, just waiting to be used and so much time just waiting to be spent on a good life. But, instead of trying to have a good life and find a goal, you just go on without any objective in your heart. It is as if the mission is all that matters to you. _Why _do you do this to yourself? _Why_ can't you let go and move on? I wish I-''

''How about you tell me then?'' Yugito shouted, standing up, ''How about you tell me why I can't be as good as Naruto? Or how come I am such a monster that I-''

Kirabi slapped his student, his eyes staring fiercely behind his shades. ''Do not ever say anything like that again!'' he shouted at her, ''You three are like family to me! I would not ever value one over the other!''

Yugito turned around and ran, biting down the tears and ignoring her teacher's shouts, all the while thinking to herself, _''I will never be like them! I will ever be weak!''_

-ooo-

_''This is the end for you, Yamaken!'' Tōshirō no Shirou shouted, his blade held low to his side, a small dragon head forming at the tip of his blade. The legendary warrior stood on one of the earth plateaus Yamaken had created, dressed in pure white battle kimono. His silver coloured hair and eyes glinted in the moonlight. ''You have been a worthy opponent... my friend.''_

_Yamaken, a short, bulky man clad in reddish brown samurai attire with kanji for ''Earth Demon'' and ''Master of Earth'' on it chuckled. He was knelt on the ground below, rubbing his equally reddish brown beard. ''You were a worthy opponent, my old friend,'' he said to Tōshirō in his gruff voice. _

_''Neither of us will live to fight another day, it seems,'' Tōshirō said, looking down to his own wounds. He had stopped the bleeding by lodging eyes in the wounds, which had started to swell and were no purple of colour. ''The third and final day... for some reason I'm saddened that we will no longer do battle in the land of the living.''_

_Yamaken held his bleeding side, counting at least five broken ribs. ''Perhaps we shall find each other in the afterlife,'' the samurai said, unclasping his flask and taking a long tug from it. ''Perhaps we shouldn't have done this...'' Yamaken said, looking around. Where once had been a long patch of earth, there was now carved up islands with ice in the trenches that had started to melt._

_Tōshirō coughed, standing up with his legs shaking. ''Perhaps, but I prefer a demolished land than civil war taking the lives of thousands. Besides, this battle was inevitable, was it not? Our clans had these feuds for many years and the civil war would mean the end of both our clans. As clan heads it was our duty to do battle... for the sake of our next generation.''_

_''You are right,'' Yamaken agreed, throwing his flask to Tōshirō, who drank the last drips before throwing it aside, chuckling at his adversary's last act of mischief. ''Let's meet in the afterlife once more and continue our battle.''_

_''Agreed.''_

_And then, with an instant, huge spheres of chakra enveloped both warriors. Tōshirō's raised his silvery blade as his arctic blue chakra sphere channeled into his blade. A dragon head made out of ice sprang from its tip._

_Yamaken stood up, enveloped in his mud brown charka sphere, which grew smaller as he channelled the energy into his brown-red katana. He chuckled with his booming voice as the tip of his blade began to glow and eerie yellow. He positioned it in front of him, a grin on his bearded face._

_Tōshirō raised his blade and jumped of the earth platform. ''Bachi no Hiryū! Kagidzume no Hiryū!''_

_Yamaken barked a laugh as an enormous icy claw came crushing down on him. His still laughing, he stabbed his blade in the earth and shouted, ''Kago! Tate no Bhumi!'' The earth shook beneath the samurai as an hundred feet tall female torso made of jade colour rock shot out of the earth, shielding Yamaken from the ice claw. The claw struck, instantly covering the statue's torso in more ice before it stopped spreading. _

_Tōshirō sighed, landing in a heap, his chakra drained. ''Who knew I would die at the ripe age of fifty-eight?''_

_''Hahahaha!'' Yamaken barked as he stumbled over to one of the deep trenches. ''It's time for the next generation to take over.'' With that, the legendary samurai's eyes rolled behind his head and he fell forward, his blade dropping out of his lose hold._

_''See you in the afterlife, friend,'' Tōshirō said tiredly as he turned around, knowing full well that his body was about to give out. But he had to see her once more before he died. He needed to pass on the message. _

_Their clans would do battle no longer. _

_The land of Sun would know peace._

-ooo-

Seiichi's eyes returned back to their normal black orbs, his younger brother followed soon. Seiichi laughed, his raspy voice filled with utter glee. ''Come, brother,'' he said turning around, ''We must collect the swords of legends.''

Shinji gasped. ''Sure thing,'' he said, whipping sweat of his forehead from holding on to the jutsu for so many hours. He gave himself only a split second before following his older brother as he left the tomb.

* * *

**_Author's Notes_**

Longest chapter so far, hope it was just as enjoyable. If you have anything to say about this chapter or previous chapters, just leave me a line or two and I'll get back to you if you've got a question. I treasure each review and take it heart, the positive and the negative.

…

**Jutsu Used:**

_(Jutsu: Fūton! Akkai Genshuku no Jutsu! - Crushing Gravity!) - C rank, offensive, mid range. The Akkai Genshuku requires the user to do the necessary hand seals and collect an enormous amount of air, compress it and shoot it off with a palm thrust. The compressed air, when on impact, will explode, momentarily increasing the gravity to the point bones and trees snap and boulders crack. _

_(Jutsu: Fūton! Daitoppa – Great Breakthrough!) - C rank, supplementary, mid to long range. The Daitoppa is a ninjutsu technique which utilizes wind chakra. After bringing his hand to his mouth, the user will blow a large blast of wind capable of leveling almost anything in its way. A variation of the technique involves a smaller blast of wind which gets ignited with flame. This variation is often used in sabotage and demolition missions. _

_(Jutsu: Katon! Endan - Fire Release! Fire Ball Technique!) – C rank, offensive, mid range. The Endan jutsu is a C levelled jutsu that utilizes the fire element. By channelling and moulding chakra to the lungs, the user can create a spark and blow out a ball of fire. Those like Hari, who have an extremely high affinity with fire can take this jutsu to the level and expand its heat output and enhance its destructive capabilities._

_(Jutsu: Karyūdan no Jutsu – Fire Dragon Projectile!) B rank, offensive, mid range. This ninjutsu technique utilizes the fire element. The ninja will do the necessary hand seals whilst moulding chakra into either his or her lungs and spit out fire shaped in the form of a dragon. This technique can also be done by using an already existing fire source as the medium for the fire dragon projectile._

_(Jutsu: Ninpō Hijutsu! Jyigaku! Omoide no Shi no Jutsu – Hidden Ninja Art! Time Reversal! Memories of the Deceased!) - ? rank, supplementary, ? range. This particular jutsu is known by only a few in the world. The user will go through an extremely long string of hand seals, two hundred eighty in total, and latch out chakra strings to the brain of the subject. The user will be able synch his mind waves with the brains and delve into the memories of the subject. _

_(Jutsu: Bachi no Hiryū! Kagidzume no Hiryū - Divine Punishment of the Ice Dragon! Claw of the Ice Dragon!) - ? rank, offensive, long range. Tōshirō no Shiroi's strongest technique, which could only be used in conjunction with the legendary blade Hiryū no Shikon. During the feuds in the land of Sun, Tōshirō no Shiroi often used this technique to end a battle quickly. Not many techniques can counter this move and not many have lived to tell about it. The chakra taxation on this technique is extremely high and can cause instant death should it be used by one with low reserves._

_(Jutsu: Kogan! Tate no Bhumi - Divine Protection! Shield of Bhumi!) - ? rank, defensive, ? range. One of strongest technique Yamaken Kuma's clan knew. This defensive technique summons as jade coloured statue from the earth and condenses all minerals to a degree it can shield the user against any attack. The technique is extremely chakra taxing and even one use can result in instant death due to severe chakra exhaustion. This technique has been named after the earth Goddess Bhumi, which the clan of Yamaken faithfully worshipped._


	8. The Battle for Ritoru Haaku

Posted: 11-04-10

Updated: 24-06-11

* * *

CH8: The Battle for Ritoru Haaku

* * *

''Alright, keep on moving!'' Naruto shouted, standing on top of a roof as his clones helped the sick and injured out of their houses. The sun was going down and there was a soft, pleasant breeze in the air. ''We got to get going!'' They had just started moving the villagers. Groups of clones were gathering herbs and food and water. They had to make haste, this was but the calm before the storm.

The villagers had been scared at first, when Naruto and Hari broken the news to them. They were terrified with the thought of the Akumu Shokō returning to finish the job. Luckily, however, with the help of the village's militia leader, Kenji, they managed to pull themselves together and prepare for their evacuation. Hari helped Kenji organize the villagers in a long row, whilst another thirty clones were helping the sick in carriages. Fortunately enough, those weren't destroyed during the raid. The merchant village _Ritoru Haaku_ had plenty of carriages they could make use of. The only problem was that the majority of the cattle were already dead, having been either slain in the attack or used as sustenance afterwards. There were six bulls left and there were twelve large carriages filled with the sick and the hold. They were draped by heavy blankets and laid on hay. It was truly fortunate Naruto was to able to create a great many clones.

''Naruto,'' Hari shouted, demanding the blonds' attention, ''These guys are ready to go!''

''Got ya,'' Naruto shouted back. ''Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!'' with collective _poofs _clones burst into existence and immediately approached the carriages. ''Don't slack of, ya hear?'' Naruto shouted at his doppelganger, shaking a fist at them.

Children giggled at the sight of clones sticking their tongue out at the original, whilst saying, ''Yeah, yeah, whatever tough guy!'' and ''We'll do the job better than you could anyway!'' Naruto jumped of the house and approached an old woman sitting on the grass, already tired. ''Here, old lady, let me help you out there,'' with ease, the blond picked up the fragile, elderly woman and helped her into a carriage. Naruto went red with the praise and gratitude of the villagers and got back to work, helping the remnants of the village militia with loading the cargo carriages with supplies.

Hari channeled katon chakra to his throat and spat out a small burst of fire, using the principles behind his Endan no Jutsu on a smaller scale and setting two torches aflame with fairly large fireballs. Hari placed them on the grips attached to the front of the carries.

''That is so cool!'' a little girl said, holding on to Hari's leg, making the genin smiled embarrassedly.

''Yeah!'' the rest of the village children shouted, jumping up in down enthusiastically. ''Do it again, Nii-chan!'' they chanted.

Naruto pouted, slightly envious of Hari, who spat a few more balls of fire, making the children giggle and scream in delight. The blond returned his focus back to the task at hand and heaved a heavy box with the use of chakra in his arms and carried it to one of the heavy-duty looking carriages, designed for a big shipment. ''This is gonna brake my back,'' Naruto grumbled, massaging his neck before getting back to work. ''Alright, guys, this one can go to the front, it's all loaded!'' the blond told the villagers that helped him load the carriages as he closed the door on it.

As the blond turned around, he was met with the sight of a group of clones carrying bags with all kinds of leafs and herbs in them. ''Good job, guys!'' Naruto shouted at his clones with thumbs up. ''Separate them in equal quantities with the carriages and then help out Hari, alright?''

''Sure thing, boss!'' his clones replied simultaneously and doing as they were told.

''Uzumaki-san,'' Kenji said, approaching Naruto with the village leader, Hattori. ''Uzumaki-san,'' Kenji repeated, motioning to Hattori, ''Hattori-sama wishes to express his gratitude, but as he cannot speak, he has asked me to do it for him.'' Hattori nodded curtly, his scared face filled with respect, and got on his knees and bowed deeply to the genin.

Naruto gulped and knelt down next to the old man and grasped his shoulder. ''Hey, gramps,'' he said as comforting as he could, ''There's no need to thank me. I would have done this whether you wanted me to or not.'' Naruto chuckled, holding out his hand to the old man, who stood up and looked at it and then shook his head and pulled the boy in for a crushing hug. Naruto, despite feeling red in the face, embraced the man back, letting him cry in his shoulder. ''Any time, gramps.''

-ooo-

Yugito took a deep, shaky breath and exhaled, glaring at the man-sized boulder as though it had offended her. ''Raiton! Raikyū no Jutsu!'' Yugito shouted, setting off at an impressive speed, a perpetual screech from the lightning ball in her hand.

A thundering _boom _followed the pierce of Yugito's hand into the firm rock as it broke down in thousands of shards that passed her figure as she gracefully jumped back with a back flip and landed in a crouch. Yugito breathed heavily, finding satisfaction in the results of her newest technique. The prodigy had taken her original technique a level higher. As her satisfaction wavered, the genin was reminded of her sensei's words that still haunted her mind, an unwanted mantra she could not rid herself of.

_''At the moment, you're the strongest of the three.''_

_''You're scared, more than anything to be like Naruto.''_

_''He lives in the present time, unlike you who lives in the past -''_

A deep, furious growl escaped Yugito's throat, she slammed her fist into the earth beneath her. 'What the hell does he know? Neither of them went through what I- 'Wait. That wasn't true at all. Naruto had a horrible past, much like hers and Kirabi... Kirabi never spoke of his past. Not in the nearly seven years that she had known both jinchūriki_,_ had they spoken of their past. ''Perhaps they _do _know...''

Yugito shook her head and stood up, brushing of dust of her clothes. With a raised eyebrow, she noticed her black baggy pants and her purple and white short-sleeved shirt where dirty and cut. Yugito sighed and turned on her heels, hoping Kirabi was not at the camp.

The blond teenager made her way through the forest. She had run farther than she had thought; she didn't even recognize her surroundings. Yugito exited a patch of trees and saw, to her horror, the river and further down the river, a huge gathering of men, mounted on horses.

'How far did I run?' Yugito went through a quick array of hand seals and whispered, ''Ninpō! Meisaigakure no Jutsu!'' Instantly, she felt as if someone threw a bucket of ice cold water of her, or if someone splattered an egg over her head. The icy feeling spread over her body, when it abruptly stopped. Yugito leaned over into the river and saw no reflection. The kunoichi nodded and began her silent approach.

_(Jutsu: Mesaigakure no Jutsu – Camouflage Concealment!)_

Slowly and as surreptitiously as her skills permitted, Yugito approached the group when her breath hitched. The Akumu Shokō, the famed brothers of nightmares, the rogue shinobi internationally seen as A classed criminals and terrorists, were standing a mere seventy yards or so from her line of vision. 'I must contact Kirabi-sensei!'Yugito thought frantically. In the face of imminent threat, one that could kill her within seconds, she found it hard to stay level-headed.

As she was about to turn, she heard raised voices causing her to stop instantly, not moving an inch. Fear griped her. Yugito knew she was skilled, but not _that _skilled. _'Alright, stay calm. Regulation number four; 'Always remain calm, during any situation'.''_

-ooo-

The Akumu Shokō stood on a small platform made out of earth. Seiichi glared at the samurai, whilst Shinji grinned, running a hand through his long, blond hair without a care in the world. Seiichi, allowed himself a split second to look at every warrior for hire in his employment, all, save Saturo and Takezo, dressed in the same garb; black baggy trousers with yellow, traditional styled samurai armour plating. There were about a hundred-fifty samurai present.

The Nightmare Lord's eyes gleamed with perpetual intent to kill and predatory instinct. ''Spread out!'' Seiichi growled at his men, holding up his fists. ''Raise the village; destroy all traces of us ever being here! Take no prisoners, show no mercy, and do not hold back!'' Seiichi turned to Takezo and Saturo, ''You two split up in two groups and oversee the attack. Do _not_ fail me...''

''Of course, Seiichi-sama,'' Saturo said, climbing his pure white steed, ''I never fail a mission.''

Takezo scoffed at Saturo as he climbed his own sword and unsheathed his blade, raising it to the Akumu Shokō. ''You have my word, Akumu Shokō, that I shall cut down your enemies!'' Takezo shouted, ''I swear it upon my Tsuchi Kuma!''

Seiichi nodded in approval, as Saturo and Takezo took off, their squads followed them.

''Maa, Nii-sama,'' Shinji said to his brother as the men mounted up, ''You forgot to tell them not to die or they won't get paid.''

Seiichi glared at his younger brother for his insolence, but let him be, swiftly turning around and mounting his brown steed. ''After today, Shinji, there will be no force in the world that can challenge our power. A few meaningless sacrifices are nothing compared to the power we shall attain.''

''Hmph, you mean the power _you_ will attain, right, Nii-sama?'' Shinji said, a challenging edge to his tone, as he approached his brother's steed. ''One of the blades goes to the Kumo Council, for their 'hard work', no?'' Shinji climbed his own steed and faced his brother, for once, his stupid smile absent from his face.

''What are you implying, Shinji?'' Seiichi growled dangerously, not liking where this was going. ''Are you suggesting I am not competent enough to wield the sword? That I am not the one who should wield it? Spit it out, Shinji?''

''Forgive me, Nii-sama,'' Shinji said abruptly. ''Forget I said anything.''

Seiichi glared at his brother once more before looking in front of him. ''Let us go then,'' Seiichi said, kicking his sides of his steed and setting of towards the West, Shinji close behind him.''

Saturo nodded, a hint of a smile gracing his handsome features. ''As you wish, Seiichi-sama,'' Saturo said, turning on his heels and mounting his horse.

-ooo-

Yugito held her breath without notice as the ground shook and the samurai led by Saturo and Takezo went east bound. 'This is bad!' Yugito realised, 'I must contact Kirabi-sensei!'Yugito turned around, taking a short back to the village with by the trees, jumping from branch to branch as fast as her legs infused with chakra permitted.

This was no good, in fact, this was downright terrible! The village was about to attack, the Akumu Shokō were about to obtain the legendary blades and - ''Naruto and Hari!'' Yugito shouted, ignoring the questionable feeling in the pit of her stomach. ''You stupid amateurs!'' Yugito hissed, channeling Nibi's chakra and making a hand sign, ''Shunshin!''

Yugito warped as many times as her chakra reservoirs permitted here, only one thought in her mind, repeating as a mantra, "Warn sensei." The village of _Ritoru Haaku_ was only minutes away, but the distance, even by Shunshin, felt infinitely long. Could she handle this? Would she be able to fight the Akumu Shokō and their servants? Yugito prayed the back up team would arrive.

-ooo-

"Watch out!"

Hari turned to the screams on his right and cursed under his breath as a large wooden pillar tumbled down, making a hand sign. The rope had snapped while men were pulling it up a cart with supplies.

"I'm on it!" Naruto shouted jumping in front of Hari and aiming his palms to the timber coming at them.

Yet, before either could do anything, the wooden pillar was struck by lightning and burned to a crisp before making impact with the earth.

Naruto instantly looked to the right, finding Kirabi perched on his rooftop, grinning and with a smoking index finger. Naruto grinned and held up a hand. "Thanks!"

"I called for backup – again," Kirabi said. "But odds are we're goin' to be in trouble before help arrives."

"See?" Naruto said, "I knew I was right! We need to get these people out of here."

Kirabi waved his concerns off. "Don't worry, I got it all covered. I had a few clones scout the area and secure all paths. As soon as we can get ready to leave -"

A chakra signature diverted the shinobi's attention as he instantly turned his eyes to the west.

"Sensei!" Yugito shouted, fazing into existence. "They're coming!"

"What?" Naruto hissed.

Yugito rested her hands on her knees, exhausted as she repeated, "They're coming."

"The Akumu Shokō?" Kirabi asked calmly, adjusting his shades.

Yugito merely nodded her breath heavy and throat to dry to speak any more.

"Alright," Kirabi said evenly, "Hari, have Kenji help you with evacuating. You are leaving _now_. Naruto, take Yugito and get her water and then both of you meet me at the gate. We'll hold the defensive line."

"Yes, sir," the genin said simultaneously.

"Hari, be careful while you're out there. Move fast, do not waste any time."

Hari nodded and ran into the direction of the villagers, waving his hands to get their attention.

"Let's go," Naruto said to Yugito, his tone ambiguous. Their previous encounter still in the back of his mind.

Fortunately, Yugito nodded and followed him to a shack with supplies. Naruto passed Yugito a bottle of water and stood quietly as she drunk from it.

"When we're fighting them, do not cower from using the Kyubi's power."

Naruto pretended not hear that, crossing his arms and leaning against the shack's wall.

"I'm serious, Naruto."

Now she had his attention. Yugito never called him by his name unless with was something of great significance. Naruto looked at her. "I don't like using it."

"Neither do I," Yugito admitted, putting the now empty bottle down.

Naruto scoffed, "Yeah, right."

"You don't believe me?" Yugito demanded with a scowl. "And why not, Uzumaki?"

"Because, you love using your Biju. Why else would you be so advanced in using it?" The retort held a stinging accusation to it.

Yugito bit back an angry retort. "This not the time or place. We have preparations to make."

"Whatever," Naruto grunted, following Yugito to the village gate where Kirabi would be waiting for them.

…

"Sensei, there's something I forgot to tell you," Yugito said when Kirabi turned to meet them. "I… overheard the Akumu Shokō say something." Yugito paused. "It's not good."

Both Naruto and Kirabi gave Yugito a curious look.

"What'd they say?"

"I don't know whether it's true or not, but they said Kumo's Council was in on this." Yugito paused again. "Is it possible, sensei?"

"No way!" Naruto instantly shouted, pointing a finger at Yugito. "How could you believe that? They're rogue ninja! Besides, Kumo would never –"

"That's enough, Naruto," Kirabi said, his brows furrowed in concern. "That _would_ explain why we didn't get any reply to our back up calls. But," Kirabi caught the look on Naruto's face, "We can't trust the word of rogue shinobi. For all we know they're lying to each other."

Yugito nodded. "I understand, Kirabi-sensei."

"When are they coming anyway?" Naruto asked when Kirabi held up a hand.

"They're coming," Kirabi announced. "They're large in numbers and coming fast." A pause. "Some of them have chakra signatures that suggest they've received training on chakra manipulation."

"What, you're saying some of them can use jutsu?" Naruto asked confused.

But Kirabi had his eyes closed and his hand still raised. "They seem agitated… no, they're being aggressive." Kirabi amended. "Shit, I sense two jōnin level chakra signatures out there."

Yugito glared into the distance. "How long?"

"Five, maybe seven minutes," Kirabi deducted, opening his eyes. "Prepare yourselves, this is going to get ugly."

Yugito scoffed cocky, putting on her black gloves, she only wore when she planned to use some extensive lightning manipulation. The material was made of rubber, to decrease the recoil.

Naruto smashed his fist together, a twisted grin on his boyish face. His chakra was beginning to spike due to his excitement.

"I can see 'em!" Kirabi shouted after a few minutes of silence. The invaders were visible, coming from half a mile or so distance. "Any suggestions?"

"I say we take the fight to them!" Naruto shouted, his chakra still climbing.

"Agreed!" Yugito and Kirabi shouted and they all simultaneously burst of to meet the incoming force.

-ooo-

(Kumogakure no Sato – Raikage Tower)

"Where is the damn report?" Raiden demanded, smashing his giant had on the desk, causing it to crack.

"Here, Raikage-sama."

Raiden grunted, whisking the report from his secretary and opening. "God damn it," Raiden cursed, reading the reports. "It's them again."

"Who, Raikage-sama?" Raiden's secretary asked in her crispy voice. "Do you mean the Akumu Shokō?"

"Yeah," Raiden grunted. "They've been quite lively lately. According to Kirabi's report they're after some old artifacts. He's requesting back up."

"Who will you send?"

"Ugh," Raiden face-palmed. "Where's that kid, Darui? Wasn't he on some recon mission in that area?"

"Yes," the secretary took a look at the clipboard once more and nodded. "He is currently on his way back with Shi. Their mission was successful."

"Send both of them to back up my stupid ass brother," Raiden said with a flick of his hand. "Ugh, I need a drink."

"Raikage-sama!"

_(AN: The Raikage is called Raiden in this story and not A or Ē simply because that's just a ridiculous name.)_

-ooo-

(Ritoru Haaku)

Naruto roared, jumping and slamming a horseman of his horse, knocking him unconscious. "Bring it!" the blond shouted, going through hand seals and then shouting, "Fūton! Akkai Genshuku!" Gusts of wind blasted from his palms, cutting down at least ten samurai warriors.

Naruto back flipped to avoid a slash to his ribs and jump-kneed the assailant in the face, sending him flying in a twirl and landing unconscious with a broken nose. Naruto pulled out two kunai blades and held them in reverse grip. "Who wants some, eh" Naruto challenged aggressively. The thrill of battle was intoxicating – something primal was rising in him. "Not so though now, huh? When you're opponent isn't a child or a woman or old, is it?" Naruto cackled. "IS IT?" he shouted, jumping one of the surrounding samurai, landing his knees on his victim's shoulders and lodging the kunai to his left in the samurai's ribs.

"Ah!"

Taking out the blade, Naruto back flipped and lodged his blades in the samurai that dared to attack him with a battle cry. Savagely, he ripped out the blades, letting the man crumple to the floor and turned to meet the rest of the samurai that were surrounding him. "You're scum!" Naruto said harshly, "Every single one of you is an insult to the samurai."

"How dare you!" one shouted, going in for an over-head slash, but Naruto wrapped his hands around the samurai and applied enough pressure to shatter the bones in his hands.

"You fuckin' bet!" Naruto shouted in his face, raising knee after knee to break the samurai's ribs and incapacitate him to the point he couldn't move and fell over. Naruto held the katana in his hands. "I challenge every single one of you to fight me. If you call yourselves men… samurai then you will accept!"

With a united cry, the men charged at the blond, but stopped. Dozens of clones popped into existence, all with the same look of barely controlled rage and a katana in their hands.

"Attack," Naruto ordered.

…

Yugito's index finger smoked with heat. Surrounding the kunoichi were the bodies of at least thirty samurai. Their bodies, too, were smoking. Some were slightly charred. "Is this all you can offer?" Yugito asked to the remaining samurai that backed away in fear. "You disgust me," Yugito said, her tone cold as ice. "Be gone! Raikyū!" In an instant she fazed away and then reappeared in front of the samurai, a ball of compressed lightning in her hands.

Their screams never left their throats, for they were dead before they could even blink. Their bodies slumped to the ground, grapefruit sized holes in their chest.

Yugito took a deep breath, extensive usage of lightning-based jutsu already wearing her down. 'I must press on!' Yugito thought, turning her head and spotting a squadron of samurai running in her direction.

Yugito flashed through hand seals and took a deep breath. This wasn't going to be over in a long shot.

…

Kirabi laughed as he gracefully moved through the troops of samurai. "This is what y'all need to know, my name's Kirabi and I'm the best rapper-slash-ninja you'll eva' see! None of y'all will ever touch me for I am the KILLER BEE!" And with that Kirabi's body shot out lightning in all directions crippling the remaining samurai.

"It's over that soon?" Kirabi looked around him and found only unconscious warriors on the ground. "Oh well!" Kirabi reached into his pouch and withdrew his favourite chocolate sweet. "Brake time!"

…

Hari looked over his shoulder, foolishly hoping to catch a glimpse of the battle, despite knowing how impossible it was from this distance and angle.

Hari turned to one of the clones that was leading a carriage. "What's going on in the village?" the teen asked the clone. T

Suddenly the villagers fell silent. Everyone wanted to hear this.

Naruto's clone pulled a funny face, "The boss, Nii and sensei are keeping them occupied. So far, they've taken out about twenty per cent of enemy forces."

"That's great news!" a villager shouted and he was joined by others who were talking excitedly amongst themselves.

Hari sighed in relief. He hated being out of the loop and having to rely on a clone for information, but he had his own task to finish. He had to lead these people to safety. "Alright, let's cut the chatter and move a bit faster!"

Hari suddenly stopped. He sensed someone coming. Someone he had encountered before. Then it dawned upon him. "No way…," Hari said, "Not now! Not here!"

The chakra signal was getting stronger and was getting closer at a high speed. Hari turned to the rest of the camp. "I'm going to run to the west, you keep going north, understood? I'll catch up to you later!"

"W- what?" The villagers began talking amongst themselves.

"JUST DO AS I SAY, OKAY?" Hari shouted, "There is NO TIME!" With that, he turned around and ran as fast as he could to the West, all the while spiking his chakra and hoping- _praying_ that the person he suspected to be following them would not catch on and continue following Hari's chakra signature.

-ooo-

Hari ran into an open clearing and ducked to the right just in time to avoid a huge ice pillar smashing into the ground. Hari rolled and stopped in a crouch his eyes scanning the clearing. "I know you're here, Saturo!" Hari called out, anxiety creeping over him. Saturo had suppressed his chakra like last time.

Saturo entered the clearing with a carefree stride. His handsome face was etched with an amused smile. "We meet again."

Hari sighed in relief. The villagers wouldn't have to see this and they would be safe from harm. "I don't suppose you can let me go?" Hari asked, a part of him didn't want to face Saturo again. His previous defeat still stung.

Saturo shook his head in a dignified manner. "My apologies, but I cannot let you leave. You know too much and are therefore a liability." Saturo's hand went for his blade. "A liability I must take care of."

"A liability, huh?" Hari repeated, to which Saturo merely nodded. "Well fuck you!" Hari shouted, going through his hand seals. "Katon! Endan no Jutsu!"

Hari spat a large ball of fire at Saturo, who seemed surprised for only a second. But the seasoned warrior evaded the blast with ease and locked eyes with Hari once more.

"I hope that isn't the best you can do," Saturo commented drily, unsheathing his crystal white blade. "Prepare yourself, young one, this will hurt."

"I'm looking forward to it!" Hari shouted in retort, withdrawing kunai blades with exploding tags wrapped around them.

…

Naruto decked another samurai in the face, sending him twirling in the air before landing in a heap. Naruto panted hard while Yugito and Kirabi stood behind him.

"There so many of them!" Naruto complained as he stood up straight. "How the hell are we going to take them all down?"

"Simple, we fight till they can't stand up anymore," Kirabi said with a grin. "It's easy!"

Naruto shook his head and retook his stance. In the distance, there was another battalion making its way to them, lead by a large man in blood red samurai attire.

"Here come the reinforcements," Naruto sighed.

Kirabi nodded absent mindedly, sensing out for the incoming enemies. "Watch yourselves, these guys are different from the others."

"What?"

"How so, sensei?"

"These guys can manipulate chakra, I'm sure of it," Kirabi said. "Their chakra signatures feel similar to that of a shinobi."

Naruto nodded. "I'm sure we can take 'em."

Yugito wrinkled her nose, "Pride before a crash."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto demanded turning to Yugito with an annoyed expression.

"Nothing you would understand, Uzumaki."

Kirabi sighed as his students continued to bicker.

-ooo-

Hari narrowly avoided another huge ice pillar swung his way and rolled into a crouch. He was tired already. The bastard was _toying_ with him! So far, the only thing he could deduct from their battle so far was that Saturo's blade created ice– which was obvious.

Hari closed his eyes, reading the air currents. Snapping his eyes open, Hari threw two handfuls of senbon at Saturo. It was a futile attempt, but he wasn't exactly aiming to hurt Saturo– yet. The senbon curved through the air, coming dangerously close to Saturo from different sides, only to be caught in ice that whipped around as if it was liquid.

'He relies on his sword for both defense and offense,' Hari thought. 'That means if I can separate him from it, I can take him down._'_ The genin nodded, having formulated a plan. "You think you're invincible, but you're not!"

Saturo merely flicked his blade and a wave of the same liquid like ice flew at the genin who dodged it. "Oh?" Saturo drawled in a patronizing manor. "Do I really? Well perhaps it's because you are so weak I am invincible in comparison?"

Hari glared at him, "I'll show you who's weak!" the Kumo genin shouted angrily, flashing through hand seals, "Katon! Ryūka no Jutsu!"

_(Jutsu: Katon! Ryūka no Jutsu – Dragon Fire!)_

Saturo sighed and jumped back a few feet to avoid the fire blast, which knew not to have a long enough range to him. Just as he was about to comment Hari grinned.

"What the-"

As the fire blast suddenly extended, Saturo barely had time to dodge it as he cursed himself. The warrior landed in a crouch that lacked his usual grace.

Hari burst of at breakneck speed and caught Saturo in his blindside and smashed his fist into the older man's face. As Saturo flew through the air, Hari threw his kunai with ninja wire attached to it. The wires bound around Saturo, who had dropped his sword midair, to the tree he crashed in.

The genin did stop his attack, rushing forward with intent to finish the fight.

"This how a Kumo shinobi fights!" Hari shouted charging chakra in his fists. The amount he poured into his hands was more than Hari normally would have done since his control wasn't good enough; but this is was his only chance. "Die!"

Hari's chakra coated fist soared through the air and struck Saturo. The sickening crunch of bones breaking and popping out of place told him he had landed a direct hit.

Having launched himself at a faster speed than he could handle, Hari continued to soar through the air and come to a stop as he skid over the ground. Forcing himself on a knee, Hari panted, sweat rolling down the side of his head.

"You can't possibly believe that would've worked."

In an instant, Hari was on his feet, two blades in his hands. "No way! That was a direct hit!"

Saturo appeared from behind a tree, his sword in his hand and his eyes as cold as ever. "Oh really?"

Hari glanced to his side, seeing Saturo's corpse turn to ice and melt into a puddle. "Fuck."

"Honestly, I would have expected more from Kumo ninjas. But perhaps I give them too much credit." In an instant Saturo was in front of Hari, his pale hand grasping the teenager by his neck.

Hari attempt to resist violently, gripping the cold hand around his neck whilst kicking the swordsman. Despite Saturo's fragile appearance, he had incredible strength. Being able to easily lift the boy in the air with one hand.

'Shit! I'm gonna die!'Hari tried to scream as he desperately attempted to avoid the incoming blade, but to no avail. As the sword pierced his stomach and sank into his body there was only one thought going through his mind. 'Is this is it?'

"Ahh!" Hari screamed till a white light took over-

…

"Ahh!"

"Could you stop screaming? It's giving me a headache."

"Ahh!"

_SLAP!_

"Ahaha!" Hari's eyes shot open and his hand instantly went to his stinging cheek as he sat up. Hari looked down to his abdomen, but there was no wound. _"Is this some kind of dream?" _

"Ey, wake up kid, this isn't the time for day dreaming."

That same voice... as Hari looked up he noticed there were two men standing opposite of Saturo, who looked furious.

"What's going on?" Hari's voice was shaky. "Who are you guys?"

The taller of the two, a black man with a shaggy haircut and black droopy eyes, clad in black shinobi combat attire with a grey flak jacket turned to his friend. "You weren't supposed to hit the kid with the Genjutsu, Shi."

"Ma, ma, Darui-san, it was the safest thing to do!" Shi was a tall, light weight man with blond hair and grey eyes. Like his colleague, he was dressed in black attire with the same flak jacket. "Besides, he's fine," Shi turned to Hari with a grin, "We're here to help," the blond said, tapping his headband.

Hari's eyes brightened at the sight of the Kumo engraving on their headbands. "You're the back up?" Hari's voice has a tone of relief to it. "What took you guys so long?"

Darui opted to ignore him and narrow his eyes on Saturo who had stood quietly the whole time. Shi picking up on this grabbed Hari firmly by the shoulder and dragged him with him, ignoring Hari's

"Hey, what are you doing?"

"I'm sorry, but you're going to have to sit this one out, kid," Shi said, throwing Hari to the ground. "Get some cover, this guy's a lot stronger than you think he is and it might take some of Darui's, ah, less subtle techniques to defeat him." With a patronizing smile, Shi turned around and disappeared, only to reappear next to his taller colleague in an instant.

Hari's eyes bulged. Now that he had regained his bearings, Hari sized up the backup shinobi more carefully. Darui was carrying a huge folded sword on his back while Shi was carrying two cutlass sabers on his hips.

"So this is you back up? This is all Kumo could send? Don't get me wrong, I'm impressed you could cast a genjutsu on me, weak as it may have been, but impressive nonetheless." Saturo broke out in hysterical laughter. "But I should really feel insulted. Do you truly believe this is enough to stop me?" Saturo raised his sword, gleaming in the light and slashed it down, "Hatsugoori!"

"Watch out!" Hari screamed when neither Darui nor Shi budged in the slightest. "It will-"

"I thought I told you to shut up!" Shi shouted, still not moving a muscle in the slightest. "Darui!"

"I know," the tall black jōnin said, raising a palm while holding his right arm. "Raiton! Raitoppa no Jutsu!" Within an instant, lightning began to cackle around the jōnin's hand and a split second later he sent of the lightning current of to meet the incoming ice.

The Lightning Breakthrough technique demolished the ice, cutting through it like a hot knife through butter. Saturo was quick on his feet and easily avoided the lightning bolt. Saturo came to a stop and held his blade in a guard in an exceedingly graceful stance.

"Aren't you going to fight me with your sword, Kumo shinobi?" Saturo challenged the air of mockery and arrogance was still with him. "I assume you _do _know how to handle a blade, do you not?"

Darui yawned, "My sword's a bitch to wake up, I think it's broken," the jōnin drawled, looking up to sky without a care in the world. Darui looked at Saturo, "I don't feel like going through the hassle of starting her up. I'll be fine without her."

Saturo's grip tightened, "You have got quite the confidence, but can you back it up with skill?" Saturo challenged again. 'I'm not confident enough in my skill with soshijutsu to challenge him in a battle of jutsu. His friend seems content watching from the sidelines... If I can change this into a duel, this should not be a problem.' Saturo sighed in relief as Darui reached for his sword. 'The outcome of this battle has already been decided.'

"I guess I should show you what us Kumo shinobi are really capable of," Darui was almost reluctant to hold his sword, "Let's go then..."

Saturo's guard was under heavy pressure in an instant. Darui had closed in on him and raised his cleaver-like blade from its strap on his back and attempted to chop him in half vertically. The blade master gracefully danced as he parried and returned strikes to Darui. The jōnin in question was able to keep up remarkably well, seeing how Saturo had been dedicated to the blade for many years now. Then again, Kumo, like Kirigakure, specialized in kenjutsu. Last time Saturo checked, swordsmanship was even a mandatory subject in the academies of Kumogakure.

"You can give up now and save us both some time," Darui stated, resting the cleaver on his shoulder. "I'm getting sleepy," the jōnin yawned. "So, whadaya say?"

"Your arrogance will not save you from defeat, incompetent fool," Saturo said coldly. "I shall teach you the hard way, by the heavenly blade Nisui!" Saturo raised his blade and his chakra spiked. His sword become coated by light blue chakra and as Saturo brought down his blade swiftly, he called, "Shimobashira!"

Darui's droopy eyes visibly widened as hundreds if not thousands needles were generated by the blade and shot at him, cutting through the air soundlessly. The jōnin ignored Hari's shout of, "WATCH OUT!" and flashed through hand seals. "Raiton! Denkō Tate no Jutsu!"

Lightning generated around Darui's massive form and expanded into a sphere around him. The ice needles were dispersed by the lightning shield as it screeched and cackled. A drop of sweat rolled down Darui's forehead. The lightning shield technique was quite costly on chakra.

Saturo was already one the move and charging at Darui, his blade coated in a vortex of wind. "Perish, Kumo scum!"

Darui's eyes visibly widened. Wind chakra and water chakra made ice chakra, so Saturo must have had some mastery of both elements to create ice so easily. Lightning was strong against water and earth but weak against wind. The ice needles were a mere distraction. 'This guy is something else.'

The blade wrapped in wind easily cut through the lightning barrier and slashed Darui across the chest, however the massive shinobi did not make a sound. Darui jumped back, the barrier dissipated and nursing his wound in a crouch.

"Not bad," Darui complimented casually, examining his blood stained palm. "Not too bad at all." The large shinobi stood up, his dark eyes focused on Saturo. 'This guy... is good,' Darui tightened his grip on his sword and gathered chakra in his legs."You're cunning, I'll give you that," Darui commented, "But that won't be enough!" In an instant, Darui launched himself at the swordsman and began his barrage of attacks.

Metal clanged against metal. Darui did not let up his attack, not even once, but Saturo had picked up his game and was keeping up with Darui's speed just fine. Despite his kata being much slighter and thinner than Darui's giant cleaver, their duel seemed to be evenly matched.

…

All the while, Hari was speechless. His eyes wide in awe and wonder as the two powerhouses dueled gracefully. There were no wasted movements, there were no mistakes. Their battle was as graceful as it was deadly. "This is out of the world..."

"You should close yer mouth, kiddo," Shi said offhandedly, his arms crossed and his eyes fixed on the duel.

Hari felt his face get hot in embarrassment. "Are you guys the only back up we're getting?" Hari asked.

Shi shrugged. "Who knows, Raikage-sama is unpredictable. Maybe we are and maybe we aren't."

'This guy... he's completely relaxed!' Hari hung his head down in shame. 'This is how real Kumo shinobi are. I have no right to claim to be one.'

"Pay attention, kid, and you might learn something."

"Yeah..."

…

Darui and Saturo raised their blades and clashed, causing a shockwave and the earth under their feet to form small craters. Darui saw an opening and went for a powerful kick to the ribs and sent Saturo flying. The swordsman quickly regained his bearings and twirled gracefully through the air and landed in a crouch. The Kumo shinobi did not let up and charged at him once more and jumped, going for a vertical chop that would have split Saturo in half.

Having barely had time to get out of the crouch and guard properly, Saturo felt his arms vibrate with the brutal impact. "You've gotten serious, haven't you?"

Darui cracked a smile and said evenly, "Sure looks like it."

-ooo-

"There's just no end to them!" Naruto complained, ducking under a sword and punching his assailant in the throat. Naruto jumped over the man and kicked another in the side of the head, knocking him out too. "Damn it!" Naruto elbowed a samurai that had crept up to him in the face, breaking his nose, and followed up with a vicious kick to the head and send him flying.

"Less complaining, more fighting!" Kirabi retorted, taking out twenty more fighters out with unbelievable ease. "Just hope Hari's done his part," Kirabi reached to the back and picked of the samurai that dared to climb his massive frame and slammed him into the ground.

"He better not fail," Yugito said darkly, shooting lightning from her finger tips as she electrocuted a dozen more warriors. The genin's eyes had already turn light blue and slit, under the effects of the Nibi no Nekomata. Lightning techniques were taxing on chakra.

Naruto delivered a palm strike to swordsman's solar plexus, turned around and shot an Akkai Genshuku at a group of warriors. "He won't let us down!"

"Oh snap," Kirabi said, "The cavalry is here."

Yugito and Naruto snapped their necks into the direction Kirabi was looking at. He was right. On the top of a hill there was one man wearing traditional samurai armour on a humongous, black horse. Behind him was an entire contingent of chakra signatures were enormous, but one stood out of all of them.

"You gotta be kidding me..."

* * *

**_Author's Notes_**

Thanks for reading! Please leave some feedback and tell me what you like and what you didn't like. Please feel free to make any suggestions while you're at it. Also, please take the time to read my other stories. I'll try my damn hardest to improve them and write the best chapters I could possibly write.

Please **_review._**

**Techniques used:**

_(Jutsu: Katon! Endan - Fire Release! Fire Ball Technique!) – C rank, offensive, mid range. The Endan jutsu is a C leveled jutsu that utilizes the fire element. By channeling and moulding chakra to the lungs, the user can create a spark and blow out a ball of fire. Those like Hari, who have an extremely high affinity with fire can take this jutsu to the level and expand its heat output and enhance its destructive capabilities.-_

_(Jutsu: Shimobashira - Ice Needles!) – ? rank, offensive, mid range. A refined technique that comes with the Kyousei Ken (Great Blade) Nisui is the ability to expel iron hard and razor sharp needles from the blade, utilizing ice chakra. The technique can be used for killing and incapacitating multiple targets._

_(Jutsu: Raiton! Raikyū no Jutsu - Lightning Ball Technique!) – B rank, offensive, short range. Yugito's second original technique, in which she uses the concept of the lightning fist, but expels the chakra out of her hand and forms it into a shell. This technique is based on Hatake Kakashi's famous Raikiri put is derived from the Raiken technique thought to her by Kirabi._

_(Jutsu: Raiton! Raitoppa no Jutsu - Lightning Release! Lightning Breakthrough Technique!) – B rank, offensive, mid range. The Lightning Breakthrough is a technique that utilizes the lightning element. The user of this technique entangles his fingers and collects an electro-magnetic field between his or her hands and compresses it. When the pressure has built up to a point where the user cannot move his arms freely, it is best to release the technique. On release, a pocket of electro-magnetic energy will release and burst of at a high speed._

_(Jutsu: Raiton! Denkō Tate no Jutsu - Lightning Release! Lightning Shield Technique!) – B rank, defensive, close range. The Lightning Shield technique is one of the very rare defensive lightning based techniques. To use this technique, the user must perform the correct hand seals to mould chakra correctly and expel their lightning element from each pore in their body. This technique highly resembles the Hyūga's famed Kaiten as it also forms a sphere around the body of user that protects him against most low leveled techniques with ease._


	9. Naruto VS Takezo

**Kumogakure Ninja**

Posted: 13-08-10

Updated: 12-03-11

* * *

CH9: Naruto VS Takezo

* * *

"Here they come!" Kirabi bellowed, charging up his fists with lighting and karate chopping a samurai, breaking his neck. "Stay sharp!"

Yugito threw multiple kunai coated in lightning chakra in front of her, dispatching at least twelve more samurai. The young beauty back flipped to avoid being pierced by another samurai's blade and retaliated with a flawless round-house kick that sent him flying.

"Where's Naruto?" Kirabi shouted, bull tackling five men and sending them flying into trees and boulders. "They're coming this way!"

Yugito briefly glanced across the battlefield. "I don't see him! Sensei, can you try to sense for his chakra signature?"

"Hold on," Kirabi held his palms together; his chakra spiked as he was completely surrounded by what must have been at least forty swordsmen. "Raiton! Denpa Gekitai!" Kirabi spun on his heels, opening his hands and expelling the electro-magnetic repulse to send the combatants flying.

"Naruto!" Yugito shouted in the hopes of a shout in return. There was none. "Sensei!"

"I'm on it!" Kirabi shouted, propelling himself into the air and closed his eyes. Kirabi kept himself levitated in the air with the effect of electro-magnetic pulses propelled from his feet. 'Now where are you, dumb ass...'Kirabi's mind's eye swept through the battlefield, skimming over countless life signatures. Then suddenly his eyes snapped open. "Found him!"

Yugito hid her relief as she electrocuted another warrior and turned to her sensei as the burned corpse felt to the ground. "Where?"

Kirabi's face was contorted in a grimace, she could see it even from her position. "Where, sensei?" Yugito asked again.

Kirabi merely pointed in to a direction and as Yugito followed to see where, her eyes widened.

Naruto was running straight at the incoming force.

_(Jutsu: Raiton! Denpa Gekitai - Lightning Release! Electromagnetic Repulse!)_

-ooo-

_Clang! Clang! Clang!_

Hari's eyes widened in amazement of the fierce duel that was taking place in front of him. Darui and Satoru were fighting so swiftly, so flawlessly – it was incredible. The genin could not take his eyes of the battle, though he could barely keep up with their speed.

"You haven't seen anything yet, kid," Shi commented, brushing his blond locks behind his ear. "Look at their faces. See their expressions?"

Hari dumbly nodded.

"Well, like I said, pay attention and you might learn something."

Hari nodded again, guiding his attention back onto the battle. Darui was effortlessly moving his heavy blade, coated in lightning chakra and parrying as well as stabbing at Satoru. The clad-in-white warrior's swordplay looked like a dance more than anything. These two powerhouses were so focused on their fight, the effect of it on the environment, such as crushed boulders and cut down trees, did not seem to faze them whatsoever.

Finally, in Hari's opinion, something new happened. Satoru dodged the last stab from Darui's giant cleaver and jumped back. "I commend you for your swordplay, Shinobi-san, but it will not be enough to defeat me. Not by a long shot!" And so Satoru sheathed his blade.

"What's he doing?" Hari couldn't help but raise his voice as he turned to Shi, "What's he-"

"Like I said," Shi cut him off, "Pay attention."

Hari looked even more confused but Shi merely pointed a lazy finger at Satoru's direction. "From what I understand you're a sensory type. Feel for _it_."

Hari looked at Satoru's direction and then to Shi's, "Wait, how do you-"

"Cause I'm one, too," Shi told him. "Now, _pay attention._"

And so Hari did. Closing his eyes the brown haired genin from Kumogakure concentrated harder than he had ever done. Hari blocked out the clanging metal of the blades, the chirps and crickets coming from animals nearby and even the sound of the water stream close by. Hari could not really describe the sensation that washed over him, but he felt... _at peace._ And then could feel it. It felt like a wave – an echo of power. In his mind eye, Hari could finally see– no, _feel_ what was going on. He felt the power rolling of Darui and Satoru, but there was a difference in them...

Hari's eyes snapped open, "Hey, big guy, watch out!"

Darui turned to Hari with a confused look and then back to Satoru who seemed just as confused. Regardless of his confusion, the swordsman released his technique anyway, unsheathing his blade and project a vertical tower of ice with sharp edges. "Eirō!"

Darui's eyes widened as the ice swept over him, encasing his entire body with ice. In mere seconds, Darui's form, boxed in ice fell to the ground with a heavy thud. Hari's eyes bulged out of their sockets, "He's... he's...," the genin weakly turned to Shi, "He's... my fault? It's my fault...!"

"Calm down," Shi said, "There is no way Darui would fall for that kind of jutsu."

"W- What? But he's-"

Hari was cut off by the sound of electricity. Quickly, the genin looked back at the block of ice to see Darui's body exploding in an electric current. The genin was speechless. What was going on?

"Thanks for the heads up, kid," Darui's voice suddenly said as he appeared out of nowhere, "But next time," the tall shinobi gave him a lazy smile, "Just leave it to me. I got this."

Hari dumbly nodded, too amazed with what just happened to even say anything. 'How... How did he get away? I nearly died from that jutsu...'

"It's called a Raiton Bunshin, kiddo. It's like the Shadow Clone that Uzumaki kid uses, only more durable," Shi suddenly said, as if he had read his mind.

'What are you, a sensor and a psychic?'Hari thought.

"I'm not a psychic," Shi chuckled, not taking his eyes of his team mate launching himself at Satoru. "It was written all over your face."

-ooo-

"AARGH!" Naruto ran through the crowd of samurai in his way, punching and kicking furiously at anyone in his way. His mind was in a vortex of hate and anger. "You're gonna PAY!" the genin shouted pumping so much chakra in his fist, the veins appeared to be closed to bursting. "OUTTA MY WAY!" Naruto shouted, sending another samurai crashing into another group. "YOU'RE MINE!"

As the blond continued his run, the images of the ruined villages, the starving children and sick people of _Ritoru Haaku_ and the Hari's form locked in thick ice swept through his mind and fuelled his rage. The Akumu Shokō would pay. They would pay with their lives.

"FŪTON! AKKAI GENSHUKU NO JUTSU!" Naruto pumped the attack with so much chakra, the pressure of his gravity palms were sure to kill the twenty or so men he sent flying. "OUTTA MY WAAAAAAAY!" Unbeknownst to Naruto, his eyes had become red with cat-like slits in them. It did not even register in his brain his nails had grown at least two inches longer and his fangs had started to grow so much they pierced his lip.

Naruto had gotten closer now. The enemy reinforcements were only a hundred yards or so away from him. Naruto burst himself in to the air with chakra, easily climbing the small hill and landing in front of the contingent.

"I praise you for your courage boy!" the leader of the samurai, riding the monstrous black horse called. "What is it, may I ask, you are hoping to achieve by rushing to your death?" Takezo burst out in barking laughter as his subordinates remained silent and still like sentinels.

"You're an Akumu Shokō?" Naruto demanded. "I thought there were two of you..."

Takezo roared in laughter, "Boy... you have no business challenging the might of the Akumu Shokō," Takezo crossed his thick, muscled arms, "I have seen you fight, child and you have a talent in destruction. You'd make a fine killing machine one day, but for now, I suggest you go back to where you came from. It would be such a waste to kill you here and now."

Naruto growled, "Are you one of them or not?" he repeated; only this time his tone was much controlled. "Just answer the question..."

"No," Takezo replied, "Now, leave."

"Leave?" Naruto turned his head, "I'm not going to leave before all of you are dead on the ground." And with that, Naruto charged at Takezo, gathering chakra in his arms and legs.

The brutish warrior did not even bother to move, silently commanding five of his men to attack the genin. "Such a waste," he said to himself – but then he saw the red gleaming light in Naruto's eyes, making his own narrow. "Stop!" he attempted to call back his men, but it was too late.

Naruto's chakra had turned red and in one, fell swoop he had unleashed his demonic chakra in the form of a giant claw and smashed the warriors into a several trees and boulders. "Let me tell you something, old man," Naruto breathed heavily, "I am Uzumaki Naruto, the future Raikage of Kumogakure and I'm going to kick your ass!" Chakra exploded all around Naruto, the sheer amount of it changed the wind pressure. The silent sentinels surrounding Takezo were unable to hide their surprise.

"Well then, Uzumaki Naruto," Takezo growled, unsheathing his sword, "Then I Takeshi Takezo will cut you down where you stand! ATTACK!"

"BRING IT ON!" Naruto shouted back, expelling chakra around him as the chakra-using samurai's jumped high into the air, with their blades unleashed as they closed in on him, their swords sheathed in brilliant blue chakra, ready to cut him down. Just as Naruto was about to release his jutsu on the incoming samurai, they were shot down from their air by light beams, one by one, and they fell to the ground, their bodies burned to crisps.

Naruto turned to his sides to see Yugito and Kirabi land next to him. "You guys- ack!" Before he could finish his sentence, Naruto found himself eating dirt due to Kirabi punching him in the head.

"What were you thinking, fool?" Kirabi face-palmed, 'At least he's alright...,' the jōnin thought to himself but then he noticed the prominent change in Naruto's features, 'This is bad. He's too emotionally involved with this mission. Maybe I should have switched him with Hari...'

"You're a disgrace," Yugito said with her trademark impassiveness. She did not even glance at the blond, instead choosing to lock eyes with Takezo. "What were you hoping to accomplish by rushing to your death, Uzumaki?"

Naruto growled, picking himself up from the floor and dusting himself off, "Shut up, I don't remember asking you for your help."

Kirabi slapped Naruto in the back of his head, "We're a team, ya midget," the tall man rebuked, "We help each other – _always_."

"FINE," Naruto held his head, "Just stop hitting me already!"

"This is so like you, always crying over the little things, like a little bitch," Kirabi remarked, folding his arms, "You would think a Kumo genin would be able to take a little tough lovin'."

"Though lovin'?" Naruto repeated incredulously, "What's _wrong _with you?"

Yugito sighed. "Can we continue this later? _After _we've saved the village?" the sole female of Team Kirabi asked, feeling annoyed with her fellow _jinchūriki's_ antics.

"Fine!" Naruto and Kirabi said simultaneously, not breaking their little glaring contest.

"Hahaha," Takezo barked a laugh, "You sure are entertaining, Kumo shinobi, I'll give you that!" Takezo, shifted his weight on the saddle and motioned his samurai forces to get in battle formation. And so they did, silently shifting to into a four-pronged shield in front of Takezo. "Too bad you'll die here!"

On Takezo's silent command fifteen samurai dashed forward and formed a circle around the jinchūriki team. The silent warriors simultaneously unsheathed their swords and ignited them with chakra, making them gleam a brilliant blue.

Naruto reached for his own kunai as he moved into a back-to-back formation with his own team. "I got those five," the genin growled.

"No," Yugito said immediately, causing her team mate to shoot her a glare, "Look at their swords," Yugito said, and Naruto did so. "They're coated in chakra. Unless you know how to do that, you're wasting kunai. They'll cut straight through them."

"Yugito's right, Naruto," Kirabi confirmed. "We need to get some distance."

"Alright, leave it to me!" Naruto grinned, "Just make sure you jump in the middle of it."

"What?" Kirabi asked, but Naruto already went through a multitude of hand seals. Recognizing the jutsu the seals were for, it clicked in Kirabi's mind and he grinned. "Alright, follow Naruto's lead," Kirabi told Yugito who merely nodded, not taking her eyes of the enemies around them.

"Fūton! Daitoppa no Jutsu!" Naruto's chakra spiked tremendously as he reached the last seals; but he didn't release his jutsu -to Kirabi's surprised. Just as the jōnin was about to say something, Naruto began spinning on his heels and a wind vortex surrounded the jinchūriki and lifted them up in the air and carried them to a safe distance.

"Incredible," the jōnin said to himself as the team landed at least a hundred yards away from the enemy. 'Crazy brat modified the technique for defensive purposes... Not bad, Naruto. Not bad at all,'the jōnin thought, looking at the grinning blond who flipped off the samurai in the distance.

Yugito raised an eyebrow, her interest piqued. "When did you learn to do that?" she asked Naruto.

Naruto grinned, "Just now."

-ooo-

Darui smashed his blade onto Satoru's, forcing the swordsman's knees to buckle under the sheer weight. The large black man took the brief opening and attempted to deliver a powerful kick to Satoru. The jōnin succeeded, feeling a rib or two cracks as he kicked Satoru and sent him flying.

Even so, the swordsman managed to land somewhat gracefully on his knee, stabbing the earth with his blade to keep himself from sliding further. "It seems I can no longer afford to hold back," Satoru said with a sense of reluctance. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to use this technique on a mere amateur like you, but I suppose I have no other choice."

Darui's eyes narrowed as the swordsman got on his feet and held his blade vertically and touched its tip with his index and middle finger. "Shi," Darui didn't turn to look at his partner, "Take the kid somewhere safe. I got the feeling this is going to get a bit nasty."

Just as the jōnin had finished his sentence, Satoru shouted, "Hakkei!"

The swordsman began to glow an eerie white before it expanded into a huge barrier roughly the size of a house. All the while Satoru's battle cry became louder and louder – until the barrier expanded till it exploded. The shockwave blew the two jōnin and genin away with such force they could not resist and were carried away by the find. Naturally, Darui and Shi's jōnin senses had snapped on and they had quickly put on their goggles, flipped in the air retreated to the trees. While in mid-air, Shi had grabbed Hari by the collar and dragged him with him. When the light finally died down, the jōnin took their goggles of and their eyes widened visibly as they saw a huge crater where Satoru once stood. Smoke was coming from the crater. Strangely enough, the smoke was arctic blue, rather black-greyish.

Darui had a bad feeling in his gut. "Shi, that's no ordinary smoke..."

"Ya think?" Shi said sarcastically, in an attempt to hide how much it unnerved him. "Kid, your eyes still hurting?"

"Yeah," Hari grunted, rubbing his eyes. Shi passed him his pair of goggles. They worked. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

"Shi," Darui called to his partner, "The smoke's clearing."

A vague silhouette became distinguishable in the blue smoke. The silhouette jumped through the smoke and gently landed on his feet outside the crater.

"Is that... Satoru?" Hari asked, his voice came out at a higher pitch than he would have liked, but now was not the time to act like a stammering fool. "He's changed..."

_Changed_ was a rather inaccurate way of describing it. Satoru had _evolved_. The swordsman elegant white battle kimono was now dark blue and covered by an, what Hari describe as, an _ice armour_. The swordsman attire now resembled samurai armour, but at the same time kept the same religious theme Satoru had preferred before. The most obvious change was the fact his right hand become encased by spiky ice in the shape of a dragon, with a darker shade of blue for eyes that _glowed_.

"Shi," Darui turned to his teammate, "This is gonna get even uglier than I thought. You really gotta get that kid outta here and quick. Once you get him to a safe place, come back and help me out."

Shi nodded and turned to Hari. "Let's go, kid, we should clear out from here. Darui's going to go all out, and believe me when I say you don't want to be anywhere near him when he does."

Hari merely nodded and followed Shi's lead as they took to the trees.

Darui nodded, no longer able to sense his comrades. They must have gotten to a safe distance.

"Your friends have left." It was the first time Satoru spoke since his transformation.

"Yeah," Darui said with the same laziness he had before. Only this time it was an act. A ploy to work on Satoru's nerves. "So, what's up with the new armour?"

"Armour?" Satoru repeated, "This is no armour, wretched shinobi. This is a ceremonial battle kimono worn by my people during war."

"That technique you just did... It's called Hakkei, right?" Darui asked to Satoru's obvious surprise.

"Yes, have you encountered it before?"

"Yeah, it's a pretty common technique with warrior clans all over the world," Darui said, "The so-called 'triumph card' against shinobi. I've seen it a couple of times. Though none of the men I encountered before had an ice element Hakkei."

Hakkei was considered the ultimate technique amongst samurai and other warrior clans. It was the inner release of one's soul and soul of the sword they wielded. Naturally, this meant anyone using Hakkei must have wielded a Kyōsei Ken or a Shinken. Through the sword, the life energy of the sword and its master were intertwined and left to a new found power. Many Kyōsei Ken were created with the essence of an animal. Those that had an animal type Kyōsei Ken and were able to use Hakkei were enabled to release the beast dormant within the blade and benefit from its aid in battle. Those that did not have an animal type Kyōsei Ken wielded the power of the spirit bound to the sword. Many believed the spirit of the sword to be the former owner of the blade. It was speculated if a great swordsman wielded a weapon, any weapon, and his bond with it was great enough, he could leave behind a piece of his soul within the blade and create a Kyōsei weapon. Satoru did not have an animal type Kyōsei Ken.

"So what's your Kyōsei Ken? It's obviously not an animal from the looks of it," Darui asked feigning his nonchalant tone. If here were able to determine what kind of power Satoru's blade had, it might give him an edge.

"Kukuku," Satoru chuckled darkly, "You are a peculiar one, Shinobi-san. I shall tell you. My Kyōsei Ken is a spirit type. Within my blade is my long forgotten ancestor, Shiroi no Nisui. My Hakkei allows my deceased ancestor's spirit aide me in battle. His power combined with mine gives me ultimate control of ice. Now... you shall die."

No sooner had Satoru finished his sentence, had he dashed at the taller man with intent to kill. The swordsman's grace while maintaining his deadly performance was a testimony to his skill indeed. Satoru feigned at a stab and immediately crafted a blade of ice from tin air and made for a swift swipe against the Kumo jōnin. Fortunately Darui managed to come of it with a mere scratch.

Grunting, the jōnin charged his hand with Raiton chakra and immediately burned away the icy residue. Even a shallow cut could mean the end of him in this battle. The swordsman's ice was capable of spreading all over his body in mere seconds. Darui dodged to the left, rolling on his shoulder and blasting a good douse of lightning chakra towards Satoru, who dodged, knowing that reflecting a lightning blast with an ice-covered blade was safe as kicking a tiger. Speaking of tigers, Satoru stabbed his blade in the ground and created a sabre tooth tiger. The feline immediately pounced towards Darui and slashed a claw over his thick shoulder as he was unable to avoid the feral beast's quickness.

Darui immediately flashed through a string of hand signs and held out his right palm, supporting it with his left around his wrist, and shouting, "Ranton! Reizā Sākasu no Jutsu!" Unfortunately, Darui could take no pleasure in seeing the absolute shock on Satoru's face as an orb of electricity formed around his hands and when he shot the multiple beams at the feline. The unlucky tiger managed to dodge three beams but when the fourth struck it left front pawn, the rest of the barrage crushed it's icy existence.

_(Jutsu: Ranton! Reizā Sākasu no Jutsu - Laser Circus!)_

Satoru didn't waste any time in blindsiding Darui and slash a deep gash across the small of his back before holding his blade diagonally to absorb the powerful kick that sent him in the air. The swordsman immediately ran, jumping gracefully through the barrage of electricity beams. Elemental combinations were obviously taking a heavy toll on the jōnin. Satoru held his left index and middle finger in front of him in a V sign and held his blade tip two inches back, channeling his chakra for one of his special moves. "Yari!" as if pushing a pool cue, Satoru thrust arm forward through his fingers and launched a deadly ice spear.

"Argh!" Darui dropped to his knee and felt the Ranton jutsu falter in his hands which resulted in him being on the receiving end of his own electric currently which was only amplified by the icy spear lodged in his previous unwounded shoulder. The jōnin reached for the spear lodged in his arm, but was forced to retract his hand and instead offer his forearm to block Satoru's sharp kick. Ignoring the vibration in his right arm, Darui countered with his right fist, smashing it into Satoru's face and sending him a few feet back. Sacrificing his momentum, the jōnin gripped the spear lodged in his thick shoulder once again and tugged with all his might. This had to be done fast. He could already feel the poisonous ice spread down his arm. "Harrumph!" Darui immediately ceased his pull on the spear. The bastard was smiling at him, meaning this was no regular spear. Ignoring Satoru's sadistic grin, Darui focused on the problem. From what he could see - or better yet, feel, the spear had set out leverages that dug further in his muscles. If he applied more power to his arm and simply ripped it out, he would rip out a good chunk of his shoulder and the blood loss alone would be able to kill him, forget his delirious state after having ripped out the spear in the first place.

Darui held his up his good arm (sans the claw marks) and quickly put on his shades before aiming his hand at Satoru - his face more specifically - and shouting, "Ranton! Kyokujitsu!" A sphere of bright light snapped to life in Darui's hand before exploding in a ray of blindly bright colours.

_(Jutsu: Ranton! Kyokujitsu no Jutsu - Rising Sun Technique!)_

"Argh!" Satoru covered his eyes with his left arm and held his blade in a defensive kata. When he opened his eyes Darui was nowhere to be found. "Damn!"

-ooo-

Yugito's hands were still smoking as she looked at the multitude of bodies in front of her, all burned to crisps by her ultimate technique. She had worked on it constantly since Kirabi left her to her own devices, figuring she would have no problems improving on her own. And right he was. Yugito nearly moaned, feeling the Nibi's chakra already working on restoring the burnt skin on her palms. The blond prodigy took off her rubber gloves. Even the electric-resistance they offered was not nearly enough. The rubber gloves well on the ground, still oozing steam.

Naruto's eyes had finally stopped bulging. The technique he had just witnessed was incredible. He had never thought his teammate to be capable of handling such a destructive technique, much less actually create one. "Nice," Naruto offered uneasy with the prospect of actually offering his teammate a compliment. Still, he had to give kudos for such an amazing technique.

Yugito didn't even bother acknowledging the compliment and turned to their sensei. "I can take on what's left of the samurai and their master, sensei," the genin told him, "You go on ahead and take care of the Akumu Shokō. Best take the fool with you."

Kirabi scratched his chin in thought. Perhaps the time had come for Yugito to handle her own in a fight. "Alright, just be careful," Kirabi finally conceded. "If you need help... you're on your own. We can't come back for you."

"Then take her with you," Naruto said, opting to face the remaining samurai and ignoring the discomfort in his gut. "You'll need her. She's...," Naruto paused, "Stronger than I am - at the moment," the blond quickly added. "I can take on these lackeys."

Both Kirabi and Yugito barely managed to hide their surprise at the blonde's statement. Openly admitting Yugito was stronger than he was must have taken a lot of effort on Naruto's part.

"You got it, kiddo," Kirabi finally said.

"Let's go," Yugito immediately said.

"I'll be fine," Naruto caught the worried look on Kirabi's face, "I can handle it! It's not like _they_ could kill me."

"That's not what I'm worried about."

Naruto and Yugito both knew what he meant.

"If I - If I lose control, then only you can stop me, Kirabi-sensei," Naruto said. "I doubt I'll make it past two tails with all these reinforcement seals you put on me. Probably Yugito could stop me too."

Yugito reached in her pouch and put on a second pair of rubber gloves and looked at Kirabi, who merely nodded and lead the way. Neither even thought of stopping their glide through the trees for the samurai as Naruto already appeared before them and viciously kicked the swordsman to the ground where he landed with a sickening pop, evident of his dislocated neck.

-ooo-

Takezo made no move to stop the two Kumo shinobi as they took the trees and headed for the location of his masters. Takezo was more interested in the young man in front of him that stayed behind so that his teammates could advance.

"I commend you for your courage but I pity you for your stupidity," Takezo said, stepping of his steed. His heavy boots left profound expression on the ground beneath them. "I shall spare you any further comment, boy. Enjoy the sweet embrace of death."

"Bring it on, fatso," Naruto childishly mocked, his eyes flickering left and right over all the samurai present. Minus Takezo, there were sixteen samurai left. Naruto reckoned he would have a hard time against Takezo alone. He would have to deal with the samurai first, should they get smart and exploit his blindsides.

"There's no need for that, boy," Takezo said as Naruto turned to face his minions. "I am a man of honour. This battle is between you and I. None will interfere."

"Yeah, like I would take your word for it."

Takezo growled. "Don't mistake us samurai for your deceitful shinobi dogs. Unlike you, we know the meaning of honour." The brutish man set his handle on his blade's grip. "Now, prepare yourself for a world of pain, arrogant one."

Naruto's eyes narrowed and a deep growl rumbled in his throat. "Like I said, bring it one. Give it your best shot, old man." Naruto flashed through hand seals and held his hands apart. "Fūton! Shippū Shūren no Jutsu!" Wind began to visibly spiral around Naruto's arms. As their rotation speed picked up, the genin felt the familiar tight feeling of his muscles contracting. The Hurricane Drills screeched in a soft, low hum. It was time to kill.

Takeshi raised a thick leg and placed his heavily booted, right foot down in front of him. The samurai gripped his sword's handle loosely, eyeballing the youth in front of him. Under his grasp, he felt Tsuchi Kuma awaken. The brute smiled. He was intrigued in seeing what else the young boy could do aside from projecting appendage made from that strangely coloured chakra. Deep down, Takezo's gut told him there was more than that what met they eye with this young shinobi.

The second their eyes locked, the battle begun. Naruto shot from his position in the blink of an eye, propelled by the drills around his arms he made a beeline for his opponent and greeted him with a knee-jump. Takezo caught Naruto's knee with his left hand, easily coping with the pressure behind it and tightening his grip Tsuchi Kuma's handle. Naruto saw the movement and send a light burst of chakra through his right drill. The genin was able to narrowly dodge the upwards sweep.

Takezo's blade was thick. The metal was a dark shade of purple-brown and was covered by chunks of earthly brown metal. The blade's handle had an intricate design that foretold its value. On the butt of the handle, there was the face of a fierce bear. It's face was in a snarl and it bared it's fangs.

Naruto charged again, ducking under Takezo's swipe and attempting to drill right through his armour. Unfortunately, Takezo proved to be quicker than he had expected and Naruto missed his opening, being forced to block a powerful kick with his forearm. What was even worse, it seemed the drills did no damage to Takezo's shin guards whatsoever. The shinobi youth attacked with a barrage of stabs with his dual tendrils. Takezo managed to either block or dodge all of them with apparent ease. The frustration built up in Naruto made him make a grave error as he left himself open after an impulsive roundhouse kick. Takezo, a man of honour he may be, was not pulling any punches and exploited the opening by slamming the butt of his grip into Naruto's gut. Too distracted with the pain and loss of breath, Naruto had no defences against the butt smash on his head or the equally powerful smash of Takezo's fist in face.

The Kumogakure genin fell on his back, his arms and legs sprawled and the hurricane drills faltering. Naruto groaned holding his face. He felt as if he had literally broken his face. Grunting and swearing under his breath the ninja got on his feet to face his opponent once more.

Takezo had sheathed his blade and held a disappointed face. "You are not worthy of being cut down by my Tsuchi Kuma," Takezo glared at Naruto, his thick arms crossed over his chest. "How disappointing. I would have expected more from Kumo."

The last particular comment hit a nerve with Naruto. Nobody and he meant nobody, got away with insulting his home. "Watch your mouth, old man," Naruto's growl was deeper and more feral. His slits turned vertical. It was quite a strange sight in his blue orbs. "Nobody insults my home!" Naruto charged at the older shinobi, foregoing the usage of ninjutsu and relying on two kunai held in reverse grip instead.

The genin swiped viciously at the samurai, throwing in kicks and punches whenever he could. After enduring nearly a minute of tedious dodging, Takezo had enough swiftly took down the genin by punching his left wrist and elbowing his shoulder. Before the kunai fell to the ground, Takezo hoisted the boy and shoulder-dropped him on the ground with such force the earth cracked. Winded, Naruto rolled under a heavy boot that easily sunk about an inch in the ground. Naruto attempted what little lightning manipulation he could and jabbed a hand against Takeshi's calf. Due to sheer luck or Takezo's underestimating of him, Naruto managed to briefly shock the samurai by using the metal harness he wore as an electricity conduct.

Taking the opportunity, the genin took his distance and cursed his luck for sending away Yugito. Just when he needed some damn lightning jutsu! "Well, I'll have to improvise then," Naruto said to himself grabbing another kunai from his pouch. It took a brief moment of concentration to charge the kunai with Raiton chakra.

Takezo looked at the blond appraisingly, silently praising him for his ingenuity. "Perhaps I was wrong, boy," Takezo unleashed his blade once more and held it in a countering stance. "Come at me with the intent to kill or do not come at all."

Naruto charged at the man with his kunai held in a reverse grip. However, once he was fifteen feet away from the swordsman, he threw small projectile at Takezo. It turned out to be a smoke bomb as it detonated six feet away from Takezo. The samurai coughed slightly but wasted no time in using his blade's earth affinity to make a vertical swipe at the boy that sent earth spikes into the smoke.

"Ack!"

Takezo grinned with satisfaction. Another powerful wave of his blade blew away the smoke, revealing the boy dangling inches above the ground, impaled by an earth spike through the chest. The boy's chest wound dripped a massive amount of blood. The swordsman sighed, not wanting to have finished the fight so quickly. Takezo eyed the kunai as it dropped out of the boy's limp hand at the lightning coating leaving it's metal.

Just as Takezo was about to sheath his blade, the body burst in a column of smoke.

"A clone!" Takezo looked to his left and right for the original when he felt a sharp pain in his back. Turning around, he saw the boy had thrown a sizeable rock at him. "Why you insolent, little brat!" Takezo sent another wave of earth spikes at the genin. The attack proved to be too fast for him, but Takezo growled again when it turned out to be another clone.

"Hey, old man!" several voices cried at the same time from all directions.

Takezo raised a wall of earth to block some on the incoming objects but was force to dodge several more projectiles from directions all around. The projectiles turned out to be paint pellets that coloured his armour in ridiculous shades of bright yellow and pink. Takezo's anger reached a new point. "Pests!" Takezo raised his sword above him, ready to level the ground when suddenly a puff of smoke appeared before him and the original appeared, upper cutting Takezo will all his strength.

The swordsman flew through the air as it dawned on him. The rock. When it hit him, he had barely registered it in his mind. The clever devil had set him up. Played on his underestimating disposition towards the boy. With finesse way beyond what he should have been able, Takezo flipped through the air and landed on a safe distance from the insolent brat. Takeshi Takezo had no clue whatsoever. Not a second after his feet met the ground, they were grabbed by multiple pair of hands.

All around him there were puffs of smoke as more clones came to existence.

'The pellets! Not all of them were actual pellets!' Takezo's revelation was too late. The swordsman was dragged to the ground and he felt his sword leave his grip, all the while he felt dozens of fists and kicks connect with his body.

The clone that grabbed the blade from Takezo threw it to the original Naruto, who caught it deftly with a large grin on his face. "Such a disappointment," Naruto mocked in a rather convincing imitation of Takezo. "Let me remind you who I am. I'm Uzumaki Naruto, the future strongest Raikage and shinobi of all time!"

An enormous spike of chakra cut Naruto's introduction short. Takezo was enraged and had already freed himself of his clones' grasps. The brute made his way through dozens of clones trying to tag-team him without success.

Naruto gulped visibly at the terror that was Takeshi Takezo.

-ooo-

Darui sat against a tree, about two miles from the clearing where he escaped Satoru. The jōnin steeled his nerves and gripped the ice spear that was lodged in his shoulder. He had already prevented the claw marks from Satoru's tiger to infect him future by burning it with his lightning chakra. The spear, however, was far more troubling. Already his arm felt heavier. Within half an hour, he'd have no choice but to amputate himself.

'Alright, calm yourself,'Darui commanded himself,'Concentrate on the ice. Concentrate on the water.' His plan was simple. By using his water affinity, he would cancel out the ice spear. To do this however, he would have to concentrate. Despite his secondary affinity, Darui was far more lightning orientated. However, he didn't have the affinity for nothing! The jōnin had attempted to cut off most of the spear in the hopes that would stop it from spreading further into his bloodstream or at least slow it down. Unfortunately, he had no such luck. The spear kept growing back to his original size.

Slowly, Darui gripped the spear and focused on channeling his own water chakra into the spear. Slowly, Darui felt the spear dampen and his hand wetter. A minute later spear began dripping water. Five more minutes and it should have its balance and it would break apart.

"Oh, Shinobi-san!"

"Shit!" Darui grumbled under his breath. Satoru was getting closer...

-ooo-

Naruto found himself lying on the floor once again. Only this time it happened so fast he could barely register the fist smashing in his face or the kick send him fly up or even the vicious heel drop that send him right back to the ground in a two feet deep crater.

Apparently, taking Takezo's blade from him caused him to become unbelievably angry.

A few feet away Takezo cradled his beloved sword in his arms, as though it was a fragile baby. "Brat, I entertained the thought of toying with you, but you've gone and done it now," Takezo breathed heavily, a sign of barely contained rage. "You're going to witness the power of my Tsuchi Kuma!" Takezo raised his blade, reversed his grip on it and stabbed into the earth. "Hakkei!"

"Argh!" Naruto covered his eyes against the blinding light resonating from Takezo. "What the fuck?"

The light disappeared a moment later. Takezo stood even more hunchback than usual. His armour had changed dramatically, the design becoming even more intricate and the metal thicker. Takezo's head gear turned into a helm of sorts with horns protruding from the sides. The most dramatic changed, however, was the blade. It had disappeared. Now, a giant bear stood on its hind legs behind Takezo. The might beast wore a collar around its neck that was attached to the chain bound to Takezo's sword handle. Though it was very detailed, it was easily to see it was really a slab of rock in the form of a bear.

The bear, it turned out, was fast. It pounced on Naruto in seconds, throwing powerful swipes at his ribcage and face with surprising speed. The bear growled loudly as it swiped it's ten inch nails over Naruto's chest. Naruto propelled himself with a chakra-enhanced back flipped and stuck himself to a tree and hurled a barrage of exploding tags attached to kunai. The bear stomped it's front paws on the ground and formed a two feet thick wall and extended its mud arms so it could swing its powerful legs against the barrier and shoot chunks of rock that connected with the kunai mid-air, causing them to detonated upon collision. Before all the rubble met the ground, the bear struck it's paw out at the boy: it extended ten feet and turned to mud.

"What the-!"

The paw constricted itself around Naruto and yanked him out of the tree and smashed the boy on his back on the hard ground. With another roar, the muddy paw raised itself and crashed the genin through multiple trees before raising him and smashing him into the ground. Takezo made repetitive movements with his sword and the bear proceeded to smash the boy face-first into the ground several times while its master, Takezo, barked in laughter.

"Go on and enjoy yourself, Kuma-chan! He's all yours!" Takezo encouraged his beast. "Make him suffer for taking your from me."

With one last heave, the humongous arm, now at least twenty feet long, raised and smashed Naruto head first into the ground. A small crater formed on impact. Naruto's could practically taste the brain damage as he screamed. His back must have broken by now. He knew for sure his left arm was out of commission.

"Still alive are we?" Takezo chuckled, "Such wonderful determination! Too bad it won't save you. Go, Tsuchi Kuma, release this boy from his misery!"

"Oh, crap..."Naruto swore as his eyes met the enormous bear once more. It bared its rocky fangs and roared at the ninja. To no success, Naruto attempted to stand up. His legs had given out on him. 'I gotta do something. I'll have to get the son-of-a-bitch fox-bastard to help me out.'Naruto groaned loudly. He hated asking the fox for anything - especially to borrow some of its power. Still, the _jinchūriki_ knew it was the best thing he could do in his situation. Kirabi had drilled it into his brain.

_Flashback…_

"But why?" a seven year old Naruto said in a whiny tone.

They were at Mt. Unraikyo. It had been little over a year since Kirabi had taken Naruto to Kumogakure. Today was the first time Naruto was going to learn how to summon the Kyūbi's power on his own. They had spent over a year on shinobi basics and chakra control. Naturally, Naruto didn't want to have anything to do with his tenant.

"Naruto," Kirabi said sternly, foregoing his usually nicknames in regard to Naruto's height. "The fox is a bastard, I know that. But you're going to be stuck with it for the rest of your life. There are going to be times - whether you like it or not - you're going to have to rely on him, the same way he relies on you."

"Easy for you to say! At least Hachibi-chan is nice."

"He wasn't always like that," Kirabi said darkly. The jōnin sighed and sad down, took of his shades and began cleaning them with a silk cloth. "You don't think the Hachibi and I were always friends do you?"

"Huh?" was all Naruto had to offer.

Kirabi weighed his options, but decided to tell the boy anyway. "The Hachibi wasn't always as mellow as it is now," Kirabi explained, "It used to be an unstable mess. Constantly wrecking havoc and eventually getting its previous _jinchūriki_ killed or so close to death the Council had no choice but to announce another vessel would be in order." Kirabi shook his head, "During these unsealing and sealing processes, it would manage to get out for a couple of hours and kill some more. That's until my dad," Kirabi had a fond smile on his face, "The Sandaime Raikage invented a new seal and captured the beast for and sealed it into me for good."

Naruto's eyes were bulging in awe. "That was your old man? That's so _cool!_" Naruto paused for a second, "How did you get it calm down, Kirabi?"

"It's Kirabi-_sensei_," Kirabi lightly punched Naruto in the head, "And I got it to calm down by fighting it. That was the only way for me to earn its respect and, eventually, its friendship."

"You FOUGHT the Hachibi?" Naruto shouted incredulously whilst holding the bump on his head, "No way! How did you win?"

"Well, that's a story for another day. But," Kirabi quickly added after spotting the boy's sour expression, "I learned through fighting it, to understand it and its power."

"So, you're telling me I have to fight the Kyūbi?" Naruto asked skeptically. "That's not gonna happen. There's no way I can beat it."

"No, not now, but eventually you will be able to defeat," Kirabi told the boy. "But for now, just try to come to a mutual beneficial agreement with it. From what I've seen, the Kyūbi just wants bloodshed. So, when in times of need, you go ahead and give it what it wants in return for its power. Ya get it?"

Naruto shook his head with a smile, "Not at all!"

Kirabi raised his fist.

"Ack! My head! Again with the frickin' head!"

_… End Flashback_

Naruto dusted of his trouser. His expression was hardened and it his resolve was formed. "You know, there's one thing I left out when I introduced myself, old man."

Takezo's eyes widened, but quickly narrowed as he regained his composure. It should have been impossible for the boy to stand up so quickly. Hell, he hadn't expected the boy to get back up at all. "And what would that be, boy?" Takezo asked after a moment.

"Aside from the guy that's gonna kick your ass in a few minutes, I am Uzumaki Naruto, the future Raikage of Kumogakure and the Kyūbi no Yoko's jinchūriki!"

"What?" Takezo's eyes bulged dramatically. A jinchūriki? Here? In his long life of battle, Takezo had never experienced a jinchūriki's power. He had heard whispers and rumours regarding these demon vessels, but never could he have imagined to actually fight one. And this boy... this boy was one of them. "Haha... Hahahaha!" Takezo began laughing. "Unbelievable! To meet a jinchūriki here, and one so young!"

"Yeah, a jinchūriki!" Naruto shouted and red chakra began leaking out of his body. The blond grunted in pain as his fangs grew and his hands became claws. The Kyūbi influence made his hair stand up so strongly his headband slid of his face. Naruto placed it in his pouch and lurched slightly. "There we go...," the jinchūriki said, looking at his clawed hands. Naruto shot Takezo a wickedly, blood thirsty look. His eyes had become a dark shade of blood red. It was a terrifying sight. Naruto reckoned he was just shy of one tail.

Takezo, for what is was worth, had quick enough reflexes to recall his bear to its blade form and hold up his blade in a guard. Unfortunately, however, Naruto smashed straight through his blade and delivered a powerful punch to his solar plexus. Takezo's eyes widened in shock and pain, feeling his armour crack. He knew he was lucky to only feel a portion of the blow's power. However, he had no time to count his blessing as Naruto instantly disappeared and reappeared above him spun forward and delivered a heel drop on his collarbone, which instantly shattered under the pressure despite his reinforced armour pads.

"Urgh!" Takezo found himself lodged into a boulder after a fierce roundhouse kick. "So this is the power of a jinchūriki_,_ aye? Well how about this?" the swordsman spat, moving his arms to push himself out of the rocky grip the boulder provided.

Takezo raised his re-assembled sword in an upward slash, causing the earth behind Naruto to form into a massive claw and grab him into an extremely power vice grip all over his body, "Tomeoku!" Takezo followed up with a forward slash that released Tsuchi Kuma upon the blond with a readied claw, intent on impaling the boy's torso. Naruto quickly poured as much of the Kyūbi's chakra in his arms as he could and broke through the earth grip and kicked Tsuchi Kuma's extending claw into the air and rewarded the earth bear with a heel drop to its nose as it got close enough.

The jinchūriki ran at Takezo and dashed to the left at incredible speed while throwing a hand full of pellets at Takezo. The swordsman was ready and held his blade in a defensive kata, ready to cut through any clone that may reveal itself. Unfortunately for him, Naruto never committed the same prank. Two out of six pellets turned out to be smoke bombs and two more turned out to be tear gas. As Takezo coughed and swung his blade while he covered his eyes, the last two pellets turned out to be clones. The first clone wrapped itself around his arm with a firm lock on his wrist and foot in Takezo's right eye, fully intent on lodging the Tsuchi Kuma out of his grip. The second clone revealed itself by knee-jumping Takezo in the nose. The combined effort made Takezo stumble backwards and drop his sword.

The original Naruto seized the opening and attacked Takezo with a barrage of fists to the face. Takezo managed to defend the first dozen attacks with his thick arms, but his arms eventually faltered as the Kyūbi chakra-induced punches were wearing down on his armguards and gradually cracking the bones in his arms.

"Ouf!" Takezo managed to stand up right for about ten seconds before the rain of punches got him to the ground.

Naruto launched himself thirty feet into the air, reared his arms and screamed as he shot of a giant claw made of red chakra upon the swordsman.

Takezo groaned and locked into the air where Naruto hovered above him with the red claw. Takezo's eyes widened in shock, seconds before the pain came. Never in his entire life had he felt such excruciating pain. It felt as if had just been smashed with the entire world's weight. Every bone in his body was broken. His armour was shattered into a million pieces and his precious sword lay cracked on the floor next to him.

…

Naruto landed in a crouch, already feeling the Kyūbi's chakra leave him. He would have to deal with the pain in the morning. He had gotten close to one tail. Stumbling like a drunk, Naruto walked over to the tree stump and sat down and eyed the reappeared mud bear, or the earth bear - whatever the hell it was growl at him before walking to the sword handle. The beast was much less defined now that the sword was cracked. It looked like it was about to fall apart. The bear sniffed Takezo and licked his cheek before turning around and giving Naruto one more menacing growl.

Naruto knew there was no threat. "Fuck you too," he showed the bear his middle finger. "Now, go on, turn back into your sword form before I destroy you completely."

The Tsuchi Kuma seemed to understand him and reluctantly touched the hilt of the blade with its nose, glowed for a second and then reverted to its sealed state.

Naruto gulped. He knew what he would have to do. "Shippū Shūren," the genin said calmly. In a few hours from now, when his head was cleared, he would be pleased to see he could do the Hurricane Drill with ease. "Sorry, old man, but this is just the way it has to be." Naruto raised the sole drill around his right arm and tightened the grasp on it. The drill's circular tip narrow till it had the point of a sword. "I'll make sure to make it quick-"

"Uack!" Takezo coughed up blood. Slowly his eyes opened and met the blue orbs that belonged to the destructive genin that bested him. "Who would have thought a genin would have taken me down. Haha..."

Naruto shook his head, "I wish that was all me, but it wasn't."

Takezo opted to curve his head as if to ask a question, rather than waste more energy in talking. "_Jinchūriki_..." Takezo said to which Naruto nodded.

"I haven't really ever told anyone," Naruto lowered the drill and it dissipated.

Takezo's coughed. "I should have known... the second I saw that chakra.. - cough, cough - I thought - cough - red chakra was some kind of - cough - kekkei genkai." Takezo's meaty hand wiped the blood of his chin. "So, tell me again, boy, which one do you host?"

"The Kyūbi." Naruto told the man for the second time.

Takezo suddenly laughed. "At least it took the strongest one to take me down, huh?" Takezo grabbed his blade, "Don't worry, I couldn't hurt you in this state even if I wanted to," he said when he saw Naruto react. Takezo took of his sword sheath and stuck the cracked blade in it. "Here, take it." Takezo offered up the blade in one hand.

"What, why?" Naruto asked in shock. "Why would you give me the sword?"

"I'm dying," Takezo said simply. "I'd like you, the boy - no man, that killed me, to take my Tsuchi Kuma. It seems so fitting..."

Naruto felt as he had a bucket of ice water spilled over him. "I can't take it," the blond said firmly. "I wanted to kill you and that's what I've done. You're a pathetic old man and I don't feel a single drop of guilt for killing you. Not after what you've done to all these people!"

Takezo managed a weak smile. "If you're not guilty, then why are you crying?"

"Wha-?" Naruto roughly wiped the tears of his cheek. "Shut up! You're a relic. You called yourself a man of honour and yet you killed so many defenseless people?" Naruto wanted to take out his rage on the dying samurai badly. Yet he didn't. Something inside of him wanted to know why. Why would someone have done this to the defenseless? Was there a chance, a sliver of possibility, he, too, would be capable of this? "Tell me," Naruto's voice shook with unstable rage. "Tell me."

Takezo began coughing blood. After a minute he regained his breath and looked Naruto in the eye whilst placing his sheathed sword next to him. "The legends," Takezo coughed.

"What?"

"This place, the Fishermen Islands, are known for a certain legend...," Takezo began to explain the story of _Ritoru Haaku._ The birth place of the might feud between to clans. "There was my clan, the Takeshi and _his _clan the Shiroi. For many generations our clans clashed. We were mercenaries hired by the Sun country's Daimyo to take out the rebelling monks that were a major front of the civil war. Eventually, many of our young died and the clan leaders of both clan, Takeshi Yama-Ken Kuma, my great grandfather, and Tōshirō no Shiroi of the Shiroi clan settled for a duel to the death. Shiroi managed to live one more day, whilst my great ancestor chose to die in battle," Takezo smiled through his coughs and blood spills, "Eventually the clans decided that they would have to leave the country."

"I don't understand," Naruto said with a pained look, "Why would your great grandfather and the other guy's ancestor fight?"

"There was too many bloodshed," Takezo said simply. "Too much. Many of our clan died and so did the battle monks of the Shiroi. Our elders were too stubborn. Too foolish to understand. It was not until Tōshirō no Shiroi slew the elders on his side and my grandfather killed the elders on our side. After that our clans left."

Naruto sat down and folded his legs. "What I still don't get is why you're here in the Fishermen Island, massacring village after village for some damn antiques?"

"Antiques!" Takezo shouted but immediately went into another coughing fit. It took Naruto two minutes to calm him down. "Antiques?" Takezo growled again. "Those swords are Shinken! Legendary swords of incredible power. If one were to master either sword, he will be invincible!" Takezo took a deep breath. "I thought if I could return the blade to my clan, we would be able to rise to our previous power... No, that's not the only reason..."

"You wanted it for yourself, didn't you?" Naruto caught on. "Then why did you choose to work for the Akumu Shokō? Why not look for them yourselves?"

"They would destroy me in an instant," Takezo admitted. "I thought if I could serve them long enough, to gain their respect and become their lieutenant I could steal the Keikōku Kizamu..."

"I get it now. You were trying to restore your clan's honour by returning the blade. But that still doesn't make it right how many you killed!"

"I didn't kill all those people...," Takeshi had a tears welling up in his eyes, "Not by my hand, but I'm just as guilty for not stopping him! I could have, but the sword was too important... My great grandfather Takeshi Yama-Ken would be so ashamed..."

Naruto said nothing, but he knew deep down he understood. Finally, he looked in the descendant of Yama-Ken and asked him, "Then who killed them?"

"He's the other lieutenant." Takezo said. "His name is Satoru no Shiroi. He's a descendant of Tōshirō no Shiroi... and a deserter." Takezo had another coughing fit but continued. "From what I heard he left his clan nearly two decades ago. He carries himself as a battle monk, but he's not one of them. Deep down inside, he's just as much a monster as the Akumu Shokō..."

"He's the guy that attacked Hari...," Naruto said darkly when a realization hit him and thought back to what Yugito had told them at camp. Turning to Takezo he asked, "What does my village have to with this?"

"Kumo? Kumo's Council aided us in obtaining the submarine prototypes we stole from the Kiri's navy technology department." Takezo felt no further need to lie. "They supplied us with the funds and the most accurate locations in exchange for one the swords."

"What?" Naruto shouted. "So Yugito was right... damn it! Why would the council - wait, you said the council right?" Naruto needed to be sure and felt a gush of relief when Takezo nodded affirmative. "Good, then there is a good chance the Raikage doesn't know anything about it."

"The Akumu Shokō should be close to the Shinken," Takezo told the genin. "Once they have them, your teammates will be powerless to stop them."

"Heh," Naruto chuckled, "They'll be fine."

Takezo gave the blond a curious look, "Why aren't you worried? They couldn't possibly-"

"Because they're jinchūriki too and hell of a lot better at it than I am."

Naruto met Takezo's astonished look with his own grin.

"They'll be just fine."

-ooo-

"How much further," Seiichi growled, his patience had been worn thin. The elder Akumu Shokō tightened his cloak. "I hate these damnable machines."

The younger Nightmare Lord did not look up from the submarine controls. "We'll be there in five minutes, Nii-sama."

The submarine was nearly two-hundred and fifty feet under the water surface. It had taken Shinji only a day to learn how to operate these machines. He found them quite ingenious. Shinji looked at his brother in the corner of his eye. He found it hard to fight down his evil smile.

'Foolish brother,'Shinji almost openly sneered, 'You have no idea how closer you are getting to your own death...'Shinju suppressed his gleeful smile. His brother was had forced his hand into killing him the second he agreed with Kumo. If only one of them would have the honour of wielding a Shinken, then it might as well be the smartest. 'Brute force won't always get you what you desire, my foolish brother...'

There a beep from the control panel.

"What is it?" Seiichi demanded in his usual growl from his seat in the upper deck. "Shinji!"

"Calm down, Nii-sama." Shinji said pleasantly while gliding his fingers swiftly over the panels. "We have arrived. I am starting the necessary programs. We'll have the swords in mere minutes."

"_I'll_ have the swords in mere minutes, brother," Seiichi corrected with venom.

"Of course, Nii-sama. That's what I meant."

-ooo-

Five minutes later Kirabi and Yugito arrived at the great river that separated all the Fishermen Islands.

"I don't see them," Yugito said while scanning her eyes over the area. "Can you still sense them?"

Kirabi merely nodded. "Vaguely... they're under water from what I can tell." Kirabi pointed at the large, newly created dock at the river. "They must have submerged all ready."

"Submerged?" Yugito asked. "You're probably right, sensei. The dock looks to be created for submarines."

Kirabi nodded as crunched, "The question is, where did they get small enough subs? There's no way his dock is big enough."

As if on cue, a large splash of water emerged from the river. Yugito and Kirabi instantly got into their fighting stances. The dock gently floated to the wooden docks and a minute later two figures emerged from the submarine's hatch. The first was heavily obscured by his cloak and wielded two swords in his hands. The second simple waved at them, though they were unable to clearly see his face from the distance.

"Hello there!" Shinji shouted excitedly.

Yugito looked to Kirabi. "Sensei, what are we going to do?"

"We're going to try and talk them into surrendering."

"And if they don't?"

Kirabi turned to Yugito with a pleasant smile that sent shudders through her spine. "We'll kill them."

* * *

**_Author's Notes_**

I would like to thank all the wonderful readers that left me a review. I've decided to finish up the Ritoru Haaku Arc in two or three chapters. Then, the long awaited Chuunin Exam Arc begins. I apologize for the long wait. However, I'd like to make it up with this extra long chapter of Kumo Nin. I've never gone past the 8-9k words, but here I am with a 12k special for you. I put in a lot of effort in it, so happy readings!

Once again, thank you for reading my story and please drop me a review.

…

**Jutsu Used:**

_(Jutsu: Raiton! Denpa Gekitai - Lightning Release! Electromagnetic Repulse!) B rank, offensive, supplementary, short range. This technique demands a high proficiency in utilizing the Lightning element. The user of this technique converts chakra into electricity and causes an electromagnetic repulse. Advanced users of this technique (Kirabi) can use this technique on a smaller scale for temporary levitation._

_(Jutsu: Hakkei - Release of the Internal Power!) ? rank, supplementary, ? range. Hakkei is considered the ultimate technique amongst samurai and other warrior clans. It was the inner release of one's soul and soul of the sword they wielded. Hakkei can only be used if the user is wielding either a Kyōsei Ken or a Shinken. Through the sword, the life energy of the sword and its master were intertwined and left to a new found power. Many Kyōsei Ken were created with the essence of an animal. Those that had an animal type Kyōsei Ken and were able to use Hakkei were enabled to release the beast dormant within the blade and benefit from its aid in battle. Those that did not have an animal type Kyōsei Ken wielded the power of the spirit bound to the sword. Many believed the spirit of the sword to be the former owner of the blade. It was speculated if a great swordsman wielded a weapon, any weapon, and his bond with it was great enough, he could leave behind a piece of his soul within the blade and create a Kyōsei weapon._

_(Jutsu: Shippū Shūren – Hurricane Drills!) – B rank, offensive, short range. The user summons a large amount of chakra and, if needed, coats his appendages with chakra. Then, the user simply spins wind chakra around his arms. The spinning of wind chakra is only necessary for a few seconds. Afterwards, the wind chakra will continue to swirl around the arms. At this point, the tendrils vibrant at an extreme high frequency and screech loudly. The technique can then easily pulverize trees and shatter boulders. The true potential of this technique has yet to be met._

_(Jutsu: Ranton! Reizā Sākasu no Jutsu - Storm Release! Laser Circus!) – A rank, offensive, mid range. This jutsu is one of Darui's custom created jutsu. Darui uses his rare Storm chakra affinity to create several bright beams of electricity that shoot at his enemy. A halo of bright energy spreads from Darui's hands as he uses this technique. The beams are able to alter their direction after being shot and are extremely dangerous. A direct hit of one of these beams can kill on impact.. An incredible advantage of this technique is that it only requires one hand seal to use: the dragon hand sign_

_(Jutsu: Ranton! Kyokujitsu no Jutsu - Storm Release! Rising Sun Technique!) – B rank, offensive, supplementary, short to long range. Another jutsu created by Darui which requires the utilization of the very rare Ranton chakra affinity. Like most of his storm release jutsu, Darui is required to make a dragon hand sign to summon the energy current. The Rising Sun is an orb of energy that is usually used to strike lightning bolts from a high altitude, but it can be used on a smaller scale that gives the results of a very effective flash bang._

_(Jutsu: Yari - Spear!) - ? rank, offensive, mid range. This jutsu is one of Satoru's specialties. By making a V sign with his left, Satoru uses his hand as a crosshair on his opponents. Satoru will proceed with thrusting his sword through the sign to send a spear made of ice. The spear is roughly two feet long and upon penetrating the skin, the spear will instantly leak out its poison like chakra which will spread over the entire body until the stricken opponent is nothing but a sack of ice._

_(Jutsu: Eirō** - **Life Imprisonment!) - ? rank, offensive, short to mid range. An unknown offensive technique used by the warrior Satoru. With a swift stroke, a wave of ice chakra is cast over the opponent, encasing him or her in ice as hard as steel._

_(Jutsu: Tomeoku - Detain!) - ? rank, offensive, mid range. Tomeoku is Takezo's simple snatch and detain move. It is relatively simple to use and very low on chakra taxation. Once he slashes his Kyōsei Ken, Tsuchi Kuma, a bear's claw will appear from the earth and grab his opponent firmly. _


	10. The Akumu Shokō

**Kumogakure Ninja**

Posted: 17-08-2010

Updated 12-03-11

* * *

CH10: The Akumu Shokō

* * *

Naruto looked down at Takezo and examined his wounds. "It doesn't look good, but you're not dying."

Takezo was lying down with his bare chest exposed and his hands were bound by rope. The swordsman merely nodded. "Why are you helping me?" Takezo asked the youth. "You already have my sword, there is no need for-"

"I'm not doing this for you," Naruto said immediately. "I'm doing it for the villagers. They deserve to see the man responsible for their pain brought to justice."

"You're very much attuned to misery, aren't you boy?" Takezo asked him. "Not many shinobi would go through the same lengths you are."

"Shut up?"

"And then what, boy? What will you do when we get there?" Takezo coughed a little more blood.

"I'm no medic but I'm guessing if we don't stop the internal bleeding today, you'll probably die," Naruto changed the subject. The genin stood up at looked Takezo in the eye. "If we can patch you up, then you're coming with us to Kumo. You're going to face the consequences for attacking Kumo's allies."

Takezo chuckled and coughed. "That's fine by me... I've nothing else left to do in my life... I will face judgment for my sins as a warrior."

"Get up, we're going back to the village," Naruto said, shoving the Tsuchi Kuma in Takezo's arms. "Let's go."

"Why are you giving me back the sword? What is to stop me from killing you when I get the chance?" Takezo asked him as he got up and followed the genin, clumsily sheathing the blade with his rope bound hands. "I can still use it, even if you bind my hands."

Naruto instantly turned around and looked him in dead in the eye. "I'm giving you back your sword because I have no need for it and a part of me is hoping you'll try something stupid because If you _do _attack me, I'm going to kill you. And before I do, I'm going to make you wish you were never born... Now walk," the genin added by pushing Takezo in front of him.

Takezo did as the boy said. The anger radiating from the young man was not be trifled with. Takezo simply nodded and began leading the way as Naruto walked behind him with a kunai to his back.

-ooo-

Kirabi eyed the Akumu Shokō from the distance as they climbed down the submarine and stood on the dock. Seiichi, the older brother, held the two legendary swords in his hands. The younger brother, Shinji, had his hood down stood behind his brother with a disturbing smile.

From what Kirabi could see, Seiichi's wielded the Hiryū Shikon in his right hand. The hilt was pure white and intricately designed with dragon patterns. On the hilt there was a large fang of sorts. The blade's metal was pure white and seemed to be covered in scabs of ice crystals that made it glint in the sun light. The sword in Seiichi's left hand was thick and had a crude cleaver design. The hilt was dark, muddy brown with vague patterns of a woman on it. The hilt was dark purple and brown and the scabs of brown metal adorned the blade's metal.

These were the legendary blades of Takeshi Yama-Ken and Tōshirō no Shiroi, the Keikōku Kizamu and Hiryū Shikon, the legendary blades that together had created the Fishermen Islands.

"Yugito, stay frosty," Kirabi told her. "Seems like they got what they came looking for. From what the stories say, those two blades got a helluva lot power in them."

"My guard is up, sensei," Yugito replied, "So how are we going to do this?"

Kirabi grinned at her, "We gonna go up der and take dem fools out ya know? It's gonna be like, the Killa Bee is gonna-" Kirabi stopped and reached into his pouch and retrieved his notebook. "I gotta check dis," Kirabi mumbled to himself, dipping his finger in his mouth and covering the tip of his finger with ink. "I'm the Killer Bee...," Kirabi nodded to himself and start making those inexplicable sounds with his mouth again. "I'm the Killa Bee an' I'm gonna trash ya, y'all little faggots ain't got nuffin on the masta!" Kirabi made sure to shout the last bit loudly at the Akumu Shokō.

"Sensei!" Yugito hissed at the jōnin. "What are you doing? Now is no time for your ridiculous antics! We're facing A rank shinobi!"

"Pff!" Kirabi waved off her objects. "They got nuffin' on moi!"

"Moi?" Yugito repeated, "Never mind. Can we just do what we came here to do?"

"Fine, fine. I'll take care of it. You stay here," Kirabi said. The jōnin began to approach the Akumu Shokō with a friendly wave, blatantly ignoring Yugito's calls.

"For fuck's sake," Yugito said under her breath. Luckily her sensei was too far to hear her. Yugito rarely swore.

Kirabi grinned and waved as he approached the Akumu Shokō. The jōnin stopped at the dock, roughly ten feet from the infamous Nightmare Lords. "Yo!" Kirabi greeted with enthusiasm. "You the Akumu Shokō?"

Shinji stepped forward with a huge smile plastered on his face. "That's us! I'm Shinji, the younger but cuter brother! What's your name?"

"I'm Kirabi! Yotsuki Kirabi," Kirabi introduced himself.

Seiichi snarled at the jōnin. "Shinji, this man knows who we are just as well we know who he is." The elder brother stepped forward. "I know all about you, Kirabi. And I know how strong you are."

"Good," Kirabi said, his smile not faltering. "Then you know you've got two choices."

"And those are?" Shinji asked excitedly as if it were a game show.

"You can either hand over the swords and leave, or you can try to fight me and die." Kirabi still spoke with a friendly tone, but the threat was powerful nonetheless. "So what do you say, huh?"

"Well, I-" Shinji began.

"I say you die!" Seiichi shouted waving the pure white blade in his right hand at Kirabi. Instantly an ice dragon emerged from the river and crashed towards Kirabi.

Before the dragon got close enough to attack it was struck by a fat bolt of lightning that struck it down but did not completely destroy it.

"Then I guess I'll have to kill you," Kirabi said, the smile finally gone. "Raikō Jōshō!" Kirabi shouted as the lightning wrapped around him. The jōnin literally flew past the brothers and landed a powerful fist in the ice dragon, completely destroying it and sending chunks of ice everywhere.

Kirabi disappeared instantly with a Shunshin and reappeared next to Yugito.

The battle had begun.

-ooo-

Satoru walked slowly through the woods accompanied by ice tigers crafted with his blade, Nisui as he looked for his prey. Satoru held up his blade and looked at the hilt of it. The kanji for Nisui met his eye. Nisui no Shiroi was the previous owner of his blade, many generations ago.

Nisui no Shiroi was regarded as the most corrupted battle monk the Shiroi clan had ever produced. He was said to be the exact opposite of what his clan stood for. He was ruthless and violent and was said to be incredibly powerful. Only Tōshirō no Shiroi, the wielder of the legendary Hiryū Shikon, was said to have defeated him. Traditionally, the Shiroi clan did not wield blades, instead opting for staffs and naginata and swords were regarded as crude weapons. Only two aside from Satoru used swords.

The first one was Tōshirō no Shiroi. He was the clan leader of the Shiroi clan at the time of his death. He wielded the Hiryū Shikon with grace and power. The other sword wielding monk, Nisui no Shiroi envied him for his skill with the blade. One day Nisui decided to take the Hiryū Shikon and use its power for himself. The Shiroi clan leader faced him in battle, against the clan elder's wishes, and defeated Nisui. Many years after Tōshirō's death, Nisui passed away and the blade he had wielded was imparted with a piece of his soul. The clan elders had noticed and attempted to hide Nisui's blade in their sacred shrine were only the elders were allowed to enter.

At eighteen, curious and with a deep thirst for power Satoru broke into the shrine and took the blade of Nisui. Once confronted, his clan elders gave him two options; either return the blade or face exile. Satoru had chosen the blade over his people. The blade had a mysterious power that had drawn him to it. At night, when the moon was full, Satoru was able to communicate with his sword. Something that was unheard of. His blade contained a bigger portion of Nisui's soul than many thought possible. Nisui's spirit whispered tales of the legendary Hiryū Shikon and its power. Upon his exile, Satoru had traveled the world in search of the blade. And then he stumbled upon the Akumu Shokō who claimed they knew what he was after. Ever since their meeting, Satoru had served the Nightmare Lords. Satoru swore to himself he would kill them once he found the Hiryū Shikon.

A rustle of leaves caught Satoru's attention. Quickly he waved his sword and sprayed a gust of ice needles to penetrate through the tree and skewer however was behind it.

"I found you, shinobi-san," Satoru declared as he approached the tree only to find a Darui scarecrow. "Cursed shinobi!"

"Ranton! Kyokujitsu no Jutsu!"

The blinding light forced Satoru to recall his four tigers to make a protective shield around him. "Shimobashira!" Satoru shouted, blindly sending a barrage of ice needles in the direction of the voice while covering his eyes with his left arm. 'Blasted shinobi and their dirty tricks!'

"Ranton! Reizā Sākasu no Jutsu!"

A barrage of beams slipped through the trees and destroyed three of his tigers. By the shortness of the attack, Satoru came to the conclusion his Yari was still deeply logged in the shinobi's shoulder and was obstructing his jutsu. By now his arm should have be starting to cramp up and become immobile. "Hatsugoori!"

Three beams collided with the gust of ice, sending chips of ice everywhere. Satoru stood up, blinking his eyes and adjusting to the light. "You're dead, shinobi-san!" Satoru shouted. "It's only a matter of time before your arm becomes immobile and you won't be able to use jutsu anymore."

…

Darui send a last barrage of beams and began retreating further into the woods. His left arm had become heavier and the blood flow had nearly stopped. Darui whipped the sweat of his forehead. Ranton jutsu took quite a lot out of him. A minute later Darui could hear ice feline closing in on him. The jōnin saw a small river stream to his right and formed a few hand seals. "Suiton! Suijinheki!"

The ice tigers bounced of the water wall but were quick on their feet and attacked again. Darui kicked one in the chin and threw a kunai with an explosive tag attached to it at the other. Darui cursed under his breath. Satoru must not be far behind and this was getting tiring. Darui closed his eyes and allowed himself a short burst of Raikō Jōshō to travel a third of mile further by forward jumps. The Lightning Climb wasn't designed for this, but it was useful when you couldn't find the time or knew where you were going to pull off a Shunshin. Naturally, because it was a D rank jutsu used for climbing, Darui had to jump forward to use it effectively.

"This should do it," Darui said to himself leaning against a tree as he sat on a branch and began concentrating on his secondary element, water. The spear lodged in his arm began to dampen slowly. Darui closed his eyes to focus his concentration.

He sat there for a minute when a sudden spear of ice made Darui react and fall down the tree as he dodged and hit a couple of branches on the way down. Darui regained his bearings and stuck himself to tree. The jōnin jumped out of tree to avoid some more ice needles.

"You've got nowhere to run, shinobi-san," Satoru declared as he appeared in front of the jōnin. "I have enjoyed myself, but it's about time you die!" Satoru held up his left arm that had an ice tiger around it. "Kenshiko!"

A giant sabre tooth tiger constructed from ice sprang from the blade. It was roughly six feet tall and three feet wide with large fangs the size of Darui's forearm. Satoru simply pointed his blade at Darui and the tiger pounced on him. Darui attempted a weak, ill prepared barrage of Reizā Sākasu but it didn't so much as break a chip of its nose.

"Katon! Endan no Jutsu!" Hari shouted as he jumped out of the tree and spat a huge ball of fire roughly twice the size of the tiger.

The ball of fire collided with the ice tiger and rendered it to a hunk of melting ice. Only the hind legs remained intact but it was more than enough to disable it.

"What are you doing here?" Darui asked with a relieved smile as Shi landed next to him.

"The kid had a bad feeling and turned around so I just followed," Shi shrugged. "Looks like he was right. You were getting your ass handed to you." Shi spotted the Yari. "What the hell is that?"

Darui briefly explained what happened and told him about its regenerative nature and what he had done to stop the ice poison from spreading.

"Let me help you out with that," Shi said to him with a nod. "I'm not as good as the kid but I know a katon jutsu or two. This is gonna hurt."

Hari went through another string of seals while Shi blew a small ball of fire on a grunting Darui's shoulder.

"Katon! Karyūdan no Jutsu!" the genin shouted breathing a small dragon that charged at Satoru.

"So you're back," Satoru merely raised his sword and erected an ice wall which the dragon collided against harmlessly. "You just saved me the effort of hunting you down. Shimobashira!"

Hari rolled on his shoulders and dodged the barrage of needles. "Shi!" Hari shouted to the blond. He was no fool; he could only keep Satoru distracted for so long. Hari went through a last string of seals. He hadn't given it much practice, but now was as good as ever. "Katon! Hōsenka no Jutsu!" Hari scorched his mouth at the third fireball but kept up the jutsu for twelve more blasts. Hari spat some blood and threw a barrage of his last senbon at Satoru.

Satoru tapped the tiger face on his left arm with the butt of his sword and it changed into a thick arrow. "You sure are persistent pest," Satoru shot the broad arrow at Hari.

Hari quickly dodged but Satoru shot another so fast Hari barely got off with a gash in his arm. "Bunshin no Jutsu!" Hari created five clones and rushed at Satoru. Being on defense wouldn't keep him alive. He wasn't anywhere near Naruto's league when it came to clone tactics but he figured Satoru could only shoot one arrow at a time and if he and his clones ran at him while shifting in positions the risk of getting hit and dying were considerably less. Hari grinned with satisfaction as Satoru impaled the clone to his far right. He was getting close, nearly close enough to attack. As Hari got closer he and his two remaining clones jumped into the air. Hari channeled chakra into fist, fully intent on doing some damage.

Just as Hari was about to attack, Satoru mimicked his grin. A split second later, Hari felt a searing pain in his arm and fell to the ground and landed in a heap at Satoru's feet.

"You foolish little boy," Satoru mocked. "I must say you Kumo shinobi are quite arrogant little creatures. Had you not even thought of observing your friend's wound before you decided to be the diversion act?" Satoru raised his sword and twirled it above Hari. "Now, you pay for your arrogance!"

_"Shit!"_ Hari thought holding his arms up in weak attempt of defense; despite knowing it wouldn't help at all.

Satoru grinned wickedly and made a move to impale Hari to the ground but was forced to dodge a streak of lightning from Darui's free hand. The spear on his now burned shoulder had nearly disappeared completely.

Hari sighed in relief as he stood back up and reached for another kunai. It took a brief moment of concentration for it Hari to light it up in flames. "Eat this!" Hari chucked the flaming kunai at Satoru who merely deflected it and set a rush of ice in return. Hari spat a small Endan to meet the ice and jumped back, immediately regretting this rash decision. He was running low on chakra and perspiration ran down his cheek. The Karyūdan, as small as it was, was still costly and on top of that he had used the Hōsenka and the Endan twice. If it weren't for Darui, he would have been dead by now.

"Shit!" Hari pulled a quick Kawarimi to replace himself with a rock in order to avoid a rush of ice. Academy jutsu or not, the Replacement Technique just saved his life. Hari reached into his pouch and retrieved a soldier pill. Hari's face pulled into a grimace as he swallowed the disgusting pill. He instantly felt his chakra reservoir fill up again. "Katon! Hōsenka no Jutsu!" Hari spat only three balls of fire to cut down on chakra taxation.

Satoru deflected the three balls of fire and smirked. "I grow tired of you cowards. It is time to end this foolishness," Satoru's smirk turned into a twisted grin as his chakra spiked tremendously for a moment. "Kenshiko!" Satoru shouted at the top of his lungs and a giant sabre tooth tiger appeared. It was at least fifteen feet tall and seven feet wide. Its fangs were large and thick and long spikes of ice ran down its spine.

"What the fuck is that?" Hari shouted. He had to get out there. Hari quickly jumped tree to tree in an attempt to lead the tiger away from Darui and Shi. If the former could finally use his arm again he could use one of his destructive lightning jutsu to take of the tiger. Meanwhile, till Darui had fully regained use of his arm, Hari would have to keep it busy. Satoru seemed content letting it play with its food for now.

Hari jumped from a branch and turned upside down and hurled six fire coated kunai at the beast. They all bounced of its icy skin without inflicting so much as a scratch. Hari swore loudly and made a single hand seal, "Bunshin no Jutsu!" Four more Hari's appeared and climbed higher up the trees in the woods as they jumped from branch to branch. The tiger wasn't as intelligent as a real one, so Hari figured he couldn't notice the lack of footsteps or odour coming from the clones. Hari went through another string of hand seals for another Hōsenka barrage. "Hōsenka!" Hari and his clones all spat fifteen balls of fire each. Only fifteen of seventy-five were real but the sabre tooth couldn't tell and so it attempted to dodge all of them. While it did so, Hari took the opportunity to increase his lead on it.

Hari stopped on a thick branch and turned around as he reached into his pouch and took out three more soldier pills. This wasn't a smart move but it sure as hell beat dying. Hari went through forty-four hand seals in quick session. As Hari felt his chakra spike he took a deep breath. He was a Kumo shinobi and he would protect his comrades or die trying. "KATON! KARYŪDAN NO JUTSU!" Hari pumped all of his chakra into the jutsu and spat an enormous dragon. The dragon was so large it took Hari a full minute to produce the flames necessary. Hari couldn't see it, but down below Darui, Shi and Satoru all looked wide-eyed as the dragon roared loudly and charged down at the sabre tooth.

The sabre tooth didn't stand a chance as Hari's dragon smashed through its right shoulder and charged at Satoru. Hari refused to allow his feet buckle under the pressure.

Alarmed, Satoru quickly spun on his heels and called forth his chakra and shouted, "Hanagoori!" A dome of ice adorned with flower patterns erected itself around Satoru as the dragon got closer.

The dome proved to be useless as Hari's dragon smashed against it and met only resistance for a second or two before shattering it and enveloping Satoru in a hot torrent of flames.

Hari allowed himself a brief smile before leaning forward and plummeting to the earth from the sixty metre high tree. Before Hari met the earth a Darui coated in Raikō Jōshō appeared and caught the genin. The jōnin appeared next to Shi and handed the boy over to him.

"It's not over yet is it?" Darui asked charging his hand with lightning and burning the gash on Hari's arm. "He's still alive, isn't he?"

Shi didn't take his eyes of the burning crater in front of him. "Yes, I can still sense him and he's probably pissed."

"Good, so am I." Darui's face was void of his usual laziness. He was livid. "Make sure to keep the little powerhouse safe. That jutsu took it out of him."

Shi nodded as Darui began to walk to the crater. "Yeah. Scares ya shitless, doesn't it? The kid's probably not even thirteen yet and already he's able to use a dragon jutsu and make on as big as that."

Darui didn't reply and continued his stride. "Come out, Satoru. I know you're alive!" Darui shouted loudly to the pillar of smoke emanating from the crater. Darui activated his Raikō Jōshō allowed the lightning chakra flow over his entire body like an electric cloak. "This ends now."

"Indeed it does!" Satoru emerged from the crater with a psychotic look on his face. His ice armour had cracked and completely melted on several area of his body. "I'm going to kill him!" Satoru's voice was high pitched and full of glee. "I'm going to kill all of you!"

Darui's face hardened. "No, you're not. I'm going to kill you." Darui sprang forward, his speed enhanced greatly by the Raikō Jōshō he seemed but a blur. Earth under his feet cracked as he blasted of and attacked Satoru, landing a square punch in his face.

The blow made Satoru arch his back so far his head was nearly at his knees, but the swordsman refused to fall. "Eirō!" Satoru screamed in his now high pitched voice. "Shimobashira! Hatsugoori! Yari! Shimobashira!" Satoru shouted crazily throwing his ice attacks all over the place.

Darui dodged all of the techniques effortlessly. Satoru had gone mad with rage. Most of his attacks were carried out with sloppy waves of his sword and ended up either faltering before impact or completely missing. His Shimobashira were now more like water needles.

"Raiken!" Darui deliver a powerful lightning fist to Satoru's abdomen, forcing him lurch over and drop his sword. Darui kicked Satoru in the chin and sent him flying into the air. Darui followed him and head butted Satoru in the spine as he flew through the use of his Raikō Jōshō. "This ends now," Darui grunted as he sent Satoru plummeting to the earth with a knee in the stomach.

Satoru landed on the ground face first next to his sword and _barely_ conscious.

Darui landed in a crouch next to him. "Now to finish this," Darui said raising his lightning fist again. "Raiken!"

"GRAWL!"

Darui was tackled and thrown into and through a couple of trees by Satoru's revived sabre tooth. It raised its head and carried Satoru and his sword with him. The tiger turned and retreated into the woods.

"Darui, you okay?" Shi shouted at his partner. "Darui!"

A moment later Darui's reply came, "Fuck!"

"He got away!" Shi said as Darui came stumbling out of the woods. "His damn tiger started working again."

Blood ran down the side of Darui's face. "We have to go after it. We can't let him get away."

Shi nodded. "Let's go!"

The jōnin turned on their Raikō Jōshō and sped after the sabre tooth tiger and Satoru.

-ooo-

Satoru writhed in pain as his sabre tooth tiger ran through the forest. Those vermin! Those filthy creatures had wounded him badly. Satoru swore he would kill every one of them once he had nursed his wounds as he cradled his broken arm. Especially that brown haired brat.

Satoru cursed himself for letting his guard down. That little bastard had broken through his shield with ease. Even his hard-as-metal ice armour had been destroyed. Satoru touched his armour with the tip of his sword and began repairing it.

The tiger carried him for ten more minutes when he heard shouting behind him. "Blast!" Satoru raised his sword and cast a rain of Shimobashira behind him. Now that he had time to calm down, his techniques were working again.

"Faster!" Satoru hissed to his creature. It complied with its wishes when Satoru stabbed it to repair its broken shoulder.

Darui and Shi quickly appeared behind Satoru. The second was carrying the child over his shoulder while dodging ice needles.

"Hatsugoori!" Satoru stood on his tigers back and aimed for the trees as the feline bounded quickly over the ground. "Shimobashira!"

As expected, the shinobi took evasive action. Darui sent a quick barrage of energy beams but his tiger dodged them with finesse. Satoru looked forward and saw a clearing and a river bed. "Yes," Satoru said in relief under his breath. Now he could escape over the water. Satoru tapped the mould on his left arm and changed its tiger face to a dolphin's.

Suddenly, just as Satoru's sabre tooth ran to the lake, a huge wall of earth erected in front of it. The tiger crashed into the wall and Satoru was sent flying over it and landed in a heap. The tiger ran to their attackers but a voice shouted, "Akkai Genshuku!"

Satoru's tiger howled as a powerful blast hit it in its face, breaking its fangs and chunks of ice from its nose. Satoru looked up to see Takezo leaning on his sword and Naruto next to him with an outstretched palm.

"Hey, I think it's the kid's teammate," Shi shouted as he and Darui stopped behind the tiger. "Hey, kid, you part of Kirabi's team? We're your back up!"

Naruto raised a hand in recognition and jumped. "Finally!" Naruto shouted with a big grin on his face, "About fucking time!"

The sabre tooth still had some fight in it and attempted to attack Naruto but Darui used a Raitoppa on it while Shi jumped over to Satoru. "Night, night!" Shi said before he kicked Satoru in the face and knocked him out. The ice tiger immediately faltered and began to fall apart.

Naruto turned to Takezo. "Why did you stop that guy? I thought you were on the same team?"

"If I'm going down, then that son of a bitch is going down with me," the swordsman grunted, clumsily sheathing his blade in his sheath.

Naruto looked at the swordsman for a moment before nodding and turning to Shi. "What happened to Hari?"

"Chakra exhaustion," Shi replied, "The kid sure did a number on that Satoru guy. I've never seen such a big dragon before."

Naruto grinned in relief while Darui bound Satoru's arms. "I hope Kirabi-sensei and Yugito took care of those bastards already. I'm getting sick of this place."

* * *

Yugito rolled under a swipe by Shinji's strange metallic claw attached to his hands. The genin did a series of backwards hand flips to avoid the next three swipes the Akumu Shokō made at her.

Yugito swore under her breath. Her opponent was sticking to taijutsu in order to prevent her from using her lightning jutsu for which she would need time to prepare. Time he wouldn't allow her. Yugito ducked under another claw swipe and back flip kicked at Shinji. To her surprise she hit him square in the chin and sent him flying.

"Raikyū!" Yugito didn't hesitate to capitalize on the momentum and charged at Shinji and slammed the ball of lightning in his chest. The lightning ball impaled Shinji's chest and burned his chest to a black, crispy residue of skin. Shinji fell on his back unconscious.

Yugito knew something was wrong. It was impossible for her to have defeated an Akumu Shokō so easily. Yugito's instinct snapped and she made a hand seal and shouted, "Kai!" Her vision became wavy and then it turned to normal; the genjutsu had been cancelled. It was a moment too late for Yugito to avoid a claw slash over her right arm.

"Oooh, what a clever girlie!" Shinji praised as if he were talking to an infant. "So quick on her feet!"

Yugito threw a barrage of shuriken at Shinji who made quick work of them by literally cutting them up into shreds of metal with his claws. Yugito shivered at the thought of Shinji actually cutting her arms up like that. Quickly, while the initiative was still hers, Yugito charged forward with a Raikyū and attempted to smash it in Shinji's face.

Shinji made a hand seal and suddenly twenty Shinji's appeared and formed a circle formation around Yugito. A snarl graced Yugito's otherwise beautiful face as she plunged her jutsu into an illusion.

"Oops! Try again!" the illusionary Shinji mocked while her hands was through his chest.

Yugito ducked under several claw swipes, not entirely sure which ones were real and which weren't. "Fine, I'll take care of this my way," Yugito declared making a hand seal and creating nine shadow clones. "Raikyū! Nibai!" Yugito and her clones shouted simultaneously, all of them carrying two Raikyū's and smashing them into twenty Shinji's. Naruto wasn't the only one who could modify a technique on the spot.

Yugito swore again. She realized this was just a set up illusion. Shinji had counted on her trying something like this and foolishly drain her chakra reservoirs. With a grim smile Yugito reckoned he hadn't counted on Kirabi's student being a jinchūriki as well.

Yugito feigned falling on her knees in faux fatigue. "Bastard," Yugito shouted, "Show yourself!"

Shinji appeared in front of her with a broad smile. "Seems like little girlie wasn't smart enough! Used up all of her chakra!" Shinji taunted leaning over Yugito with a stupid smile.

The look on his face when Yugito suddenly raised a Raikyū to his chest was priceless.

"Argh! You bitch! You tricked me!" Shinji fell back and threw of his blood stained cloak as he tended to his burning chest wound. Being on the receiving end of Yugito's Raikyū would do that to you.

"And now to take care of you once and for all," Yugito shouted going through a string of seals. Using this jutsu more than once a day was wrecking for her chakra coils, even with the Nibi's influence, but she wouldn't stand for this bastard's taunts anymore. "Raiton! Banrai no Jutsu!"

The lightning jutsu was colossal.

Yugito screamed loudly as a huge ball of lightning formed over her hands, instantly beginning to wear away her thick rubber gloves.

The Heavy Thunder lived up its name.

A huge wave of lightning, three times the size of Darui's Raitoppa, shot at Shinji whose eyes were wide in shock.

Yugito screamed in pain as she dropped to her knees and looked at her red, swollen hands that were burned so furiously the wounds were already welded close as the Heavy Thunder's roar died down. The rubber gloves had already molten and dripped of her hands. Yugito was in pain but she was sure Shinji was dead.

A minute passed when a voice said, "That... was a close one."

Yugito's eyes bulged as she looked at Shinji's approaching form with wide eyes. "Impossible!" Yugito shouted. "Impossible!"

"Oh, it's possible," Shinji held his chest. "It's _very_ possible little girl and I'm _very_ pissed."

Yugito stood on shaking legs, withdrawing a kunai from her holster with her right and three shuriken with her left. "How?" Yugito demanded. "How could you have possibly survived my jutsu?"

Shinji's grin was twisted and his eyes were set in a psychotic stare. Blood ran down his head and his right eye seemed permanently closed. Shinji's clothes were in tatters and his shirt hung onto his chest by rags. Shinji's right arm was blackened and bleeding. "I underestimated you, girl and you took full advantage of that," Shinji's voice was husky and filled with barely contained rage. "But now I'm going to enjoy killing you."

Yugito hurled her handful of shuriken at him to buy some time. Her body was still feeling the effects of a second Banrai. Shinji's claw cut the metal stars to ribbons as he continued his slow approach. Yugito decided to bring the fight to him and charged at him. Shinji ducked under her stab and viciously slash at her exposed stomach and drew blood.

Yugito jumped back and held her stomach in a crouch. The genin hurled her kunai thinly coated in lightning chakra at Shinji. The genjutsu user attempted to cut her projectile to ribbons but was unpleasantly surprised when her kunai pierced through his claw and left a shallow cut on his bicep.

Yugito nodded; there was her way of fighting him. Yugito got to her feet and took two kunai from her holster and held them in reversed grip as she coated them with her lightning chakra. The genin ran at Shinji and began a barrage of swipes and stabs. Shinji was hard pressed in his defense and his claws quickly began to crumble and fall apart every time he was forced to use a claw to block.

Opting for getting some distance, Shinji ducked under another swipe, jumped back and went through a string of hand seals. "Kyōkō Bakamono!" Shinji shouted loudly and a humongous monster appeared behind him.

It was tall, very tall. The most behind him was at least twenty feet tall with horns, red eyes and a large set of fangs. Its skin was green scales. The beast's head resembled somewhat that of a human, but Yugito wasn't sure.

'It's only an illusion,'Yugito repeated the mantra repeatedly. 'Illusions are mere fabrications of our mind.'

The monstrous figure roared, slime dripping down its mouth as it approached her.

"Kai!" Yugito shouted but nothing happened. "Kai!" she repeated, but again not happened.

"My genjutsu is one of the reason why we're referred to as the Akumu Shokō, girl!" Shinji's laughter was an insane cackle. "There's no way out once you are trapped!"

"Kai!" Yugito gave it one more shot knowing it wouldn't work. "Raikyū!" Yugito shouted jumping over the giant fist that smashed into the ground where she had just been. Yugito reminded herself it was all an illusion and nothing could happen to her as he ran up the monster's arm and slammed the Raikyū in its eye. Yugito wasn't very certain.

…

Meanwhile Kirabi was facing Seiichi, the older brother of the Akumu Shokō. Seiichi wielded the Shinken with apparent ease as he fought Kirabi. The Kumo jōnin had been forced to dodge a number of ice dragons and earth boars already.

"Raiken!" Kirabi stomped an earth boar in the nose and completely rendered it to rubble. "Raikō Jōshō!" Kirabi's Lightning Climb aided him in jumping over ice dragon that crashed into his position. He really should move away from the river. Dodging boars was one thing, but humongous ice dragons crashing in on him were something else.

The jōnin landed gracefully on his feet and withdrew a scroll from his one shoulder strap flak jacket. "Kai!" With a _poof! _Kirabi's seven blades appeared attached to their appropriate sword sheaths on his body. "We're gonna rock it now, chump!"

"Die!" Seiichi continued to wave the swords at Kirabi and creating more boars and ice dragons to attack him. Seiichi was infamously known for his monstrous chakra reservoir. The blades in his hands still felt strange. He still needed time to get used to them. "Why won't you die!"

Kirabi tackled an earth boar head on, despite being twice his size, lifted up and threw into the ice dragon. The chunk of earth smashed straight through the ice. "You ain' got nuffin' on me punk!"

A loud thunder sound distracted both fighters.

Kirabi locked to his left and saw that Yugito had already taken care of the younger brother with another shot of her new jutsu. Kirabi swelled up with pride, she sure as hell was going to be a kick ass ninja one day. Kirabi looked at Seiichi for any sign of concern for his brother. There was none. Instead, Seiichi's lips quirked into a knowing smile.

Not good. Kirabi hoped Yugito wouldn't let her guard down.

Seiichi began advancing further on the shinobi, finally moving away from the dock but staying close enough to the lake to use the ice blade. Seiichi threw of his cloak for more mobility and began to rely on the Keikōku Kizamu to cause piston to form in the ground and spit scalding hot water at the shinobi. The battleground became an actual minefield.

Kirabi back flipped several times to avoid a series of earth pistons. Once he landed on his feet, Kirabi aimed a hand at Seiichi and shot a zap of lightning. It was a slightly advanced elemental manipulation but it came in handy. The lightning zap hit its intended target, the Hiryū Shikon, and the blade's metal acted as a conduct to transfer the voltage to Seiichi. The Akumu Shokō screamed and fell to his knee. Kirabi immediately took this opportunity to jump forward by the means of Raikō Jōshō which made increase his jumps. Once he closed in on the older brother, Kirabi held out his arm and shouted, "Lariat!" The powerful blow sent Seiichi bouncing painfully over the ground and eventually crash into the lake. Kirabi had him right where he wanted. He was just about to zap the lake with lightning when he heard Yugito's blood curling scream.

"Yugito!" Kirabi turned to see Yugito on the ground and some kind of huge monster towering over her as she held her arm in pain.

-ooo-

(Minutes Earlier)

Yugito slammed the lightning ball into the monster's eye causing it to howl in anger and attempted to punch her with its other hand that wasn't lodged into the earth. Yugito gracefully jumped over the incoming strike allowing the monster to hit itself in the eye and increase its howling.

Something was wrong with this. Yugito knew this wasn't a normal genjutsu. She had little time to contemplate when she was forced to doge another powerful fist that sank into the earth behind her. "Raiton! Shuurai no Jutsu!" The lightning smashed into the ogre's chest and left a black mark on its chest but the monster's howl wasn't as loud as he had expected. Apparently its scales were strongest on its chest and weakest on its face.

Now Yugito knew something was definitely wrong. This was no illusion, but if so, then why didn't Kirabi hear the monster? He was busy keeping his eyes on his opponent but surely this thing couldn't have expected his notice.

Yugito threw a barrage of Shinji who rode the monster's shoulder in laughter. The monster moved its gigantic hand, roughly the size of Yugito herself to protect its master.

"Okay, this definitely isn't a genjutsu! That- that thing is a summon, isn't it?" Yugito scowled at Shinji. "You put on a sound proof seal somewhere, didn't you? That's why my sensei can't notice this monster!"

Shinji nodded and as if on cue four seals plastered to the earth forming a large square around them appeared. "You're a smart girl," Shinji stated. "But you're going to die."

"No chance in hell, Raigan!" Yugito trust her right index and middle finger at the summon's eye and shot a lightning bullet into the monster howled Yugito ran for of the seals on the ground and began pulling at it to disrupt the soundproof field.

Shinji grinned sinisterly. His surreptitiously placed genjutsu had the foolish girl picking at grass rather than the real seal. There were no physical seals used for this silence barrier. As his monstrous summon raised his arm Yugito abandoned her attempt to pick the seal but it was already too late. Shinji caught her in another genjutu the second she looked away from the seal and at them.

"Ibitsu Jikan Kanchi!"

Suddenly Yugito stood still and the world seemed to paused. No, it was going so slow it seemed to be standing still. Yugito closed her eyes. She knew this was a genjutsu. She knew what was happening wasn't real. She knew what-

"AAAAAAHHH!"

It hit her.

…

Kirabi stood facing the monster while Yugito lay behind him crying and nursing her broken and dislocated arm. That bastard Shinji had put up a silence barrier and when he saw his brother was about to be fried, he released the jutsu to distract Kirabi.

While Yugito cried, Kirabi had to adjust to the sight of seeing Yugito in tears. It filled him with rage.

"You've just dug your own grave," Kirabi growled at Shinji while Seiichi raised himself out of the water on a ice platform. "Both of you have."

Kirabi unsheathed his seven blades and threw them in the air while the Akumu Shokō gave him astonished looks as the blades landed in both his elbow joints, one at his left armpit, one in his mouth, one in his right neck joint, one between his stomach and one at his right leg.

"Brother, what is he doing?" Shinji asked briefly out of his psychotic rage. "What's he doing?"

"I don't know!" Seiichi said now standing on top of a earth platform.

Shinji jumped onto platform next to him while the summoned beast moved towards Kirabi. "Look at his blades, Nii-sama!"

Kirabi's blades were covered in lightning chakra. Kirabi waited for the monstrous creature to come closer before he launched himself at it in a cartwheel. Kirabi launched at such a high velocity, he cut flew past the creature and landed calmly on his only support leg while the monster's arm fell to ground with an earth moving shock. Kirabi had moved so fast and his lightning chakra was so hot the wound had already stopped bleeding as it was already cauterized.

"Brother!" Shinji hissed in concern. "I think we can take him, you go first and I blindside him with a genjutsu. Then you kill him!"

Kirabi had spun again and this time completely ripped open their summon's chest. The chest with blown open and its organ were visible as blood spurted out. The monster was so close to dying even a genin could have finished the job by now.

Seiichi nodded as he stood on the platform. "I see, I'll attack him from the right and- hiya!" Seiichi spun on his heel and impaled his younger brother with both blades. "You fool! You thought you could deceive me?" Seiichi spat venomously, viciously ripping out the blades from his brother's chest as Kirabi started at them.

Shinji's dagger fell off the earth platform Seiichi had created and his body fell before his brother's feet. Seiichi kicked the dying corpse and then suddenly felt a fierce pain in his back.

"No!" Seiichi growled as he dropped to his knees. The body in front of him disappeared. "A genjutsu... when?" Seiichi spat more blood as the blades fell out of his hands.

"Brother, you did not really think I would just let you take the blades for yourself?" Shinji said coldly as he reappeared. "You did not really think you could just pass one to the Kumo council and keep the other for yourself?" Shinji was shouting now as he picked up the Hiryū Shikon and Keikōku Kizami. "I was the one that discovered the whereabouts! I was the one who planned everything! These swords belong to ME!" Shinji shouted psychotically as he raised the blades. "Now, you die for your betrayal!"

A swift chop completely decapitated Seiichi's kneeling body. Shinji sparred it one more glance of rage and kicked it down the platform. Seiichi plummeted down the three stories high platform face first and sprawled over the floor.

Kirabi looked up at Shinji's face who murderously looked at the brother he had just murdered. "Your fate will be the same," Kirabi said. "You'll follow your brother to hell and you'll receive the ass kicking a brother is supposed to give to his younger brother."

"Brothers are over rated," Shinji stated flatly. Once again his sudden rage had disappeared. "I'm better off alone, Kirabi-san," Shinji said as he inspected the blades in his hand. Like his brother before him he wielded the Hiryū Shikon in his right and Keikōku Kizamu in his left.

Kirabi launched himself one more time into the dying monster, ripping through its skull and landing on his left leg behind it as it fell to its death. Kirabi turned around to Shinji and spat a volume of ink. It was a mere diversion. While Shinji swiftly erected a earth shield against it, Kirabi appeared behind him and ripped through the platform. It instantly began to collapse but Shinji was quick on his feet and erected another one.

"I'm not like my brother," Shinji said, "I have more knowledge and control over these blades than he ever had!" To demonstrate, Shinji went through a complex looking dance over sword waves.

The earth began to rumble and dozens of pistons began to form under Kirabi who simply dodged them. Kirabi knew he had fallen for Shinji's trap as a enormous earth dragon, roughly four stories high, emerged from the ground behind him and spat its high pressure mud canon at Kirabi. The jōnin, supporting himself on only one foot couldn't dodge on time and was blown over the land, painfully bouncing over the ground as he came to a stop with only the blade in his right hand left.

The creature made of rock spat another mud canon but Kirabi dodge it and stabbed with his sword, launching a phantom blade of lightning into the dragon. It was a direct hit and the lightning easily pulverized the dragon's head and caused it collapse.

Shinji waved the Keikōku Kizami and the earth platform became mobile and started moving toward the river. Kirabi followed suit after retrieving all of his swords and sheathing them. He quickly made a clone to take Yugito to safety.

"Time for you to die, Kirabi-san!" Shinji shouted loudly. "It ends here with the ultimate technique of Tōshirō no Shiroi," Shinji paused dramatically. "How fitting."

Kirabi felt the sudden chakra spike in Shinji as he began to scream. The jōnin knew whatever was coming next; Shinji was putting all of his chakra into it. That couldn't be good. Kirabi looked over his shoulder as saw Yugito had been carried away by his clone.

Shinji guided the earth platform to the ground and stood by the by the lake and began shouting, as he stuck the Hiryū Shikon in the lake, "Bachi no Hiryū! Kagidzume no Hiryū!"

An enormous explosion came from the lake as the biggest ice dragon Kirabi had ever seen appeared. It was at least eleven stories high. Its ice blue body glinted in the sunlight and its enormous eyes glowed yellow. The dragon was simply humongous.

"Holy shit!" Kirabi shouted too preoccupied with the enormous dragon too see Shinji visibly strain under the chakra taxation.

Shinji's eyes were bulged, his nose was starting to bleed and veins popped all over his face. "Die!"

Upon his command, the ice dragon roared and charged towards Kirabi, who seemed to be the equivalent of an ant to it.

'Okay, this is getting out of control. This things has to go!'Kirabi held up his fists in a horn sign as he began to shout, "Oh yeah! Time to let out the big bad OXTOPUS!" Kirabi's chakra spiked uncountable times as he shouted. "Henka! Nii Han!"

The Hachibi's chakra began to constrict around Kirabi. The information took less than five seconds. By the end of the transformation, Kirabi was replaced a black ox carrying a skeleton over its back. In his second version transformation, Kirabi stood hunch backed and roared. "Time to destroy!"

Kirabi opened his mouth and began to gather chakra in his mouth and roared. A dark orb of chakra appeared before his mouth and grew to the size of a melon. Once the released Hiryū Shikon came close enough Kirabi released the energy.

A huge beam of the Hachibi's chakra flew from Kirabi's mouth as he shouted. The dragon and the chakra beam collided head on. The stalemate could be heard all over _Ritoru Haaku._ After a minute of stalemate, Shinji's chakra began to falter and the ice dragon was blown to huge chunks of ice. The ice chunks appeared like a meteor storm as huge chunks of ice landed in the lake lodged themselves into the ground.

"No!" Shinji screamed, "No! The Hiryū Shikon! NO!" Shinji looked down upon the cracked blade with disbelieve as he continued to scream at it.

Kirabi reverted to his normal form with a sign. "It's over," Kirabi said as he approached Shinji.

"No, it's not over till I say it is!" Shinji shouted in a high pitched voice as he abandoned the ice Shinken and charged at Kirabi with the Keikōku Kizami.

Kirabi simply jabbed Shinji in the throat and instantly covered himself with his jinchūriki cloak. "Lariat!" Kirabi shouted as he ploughed Shinji over the ground. The attack was aimed for the blade and it instantly cracked as left Shinji's grasp and fell to the ground. It's cracked till it completely became dust and blew away into the wind, only its hilt remaining. The same happened to the Hiryū Shikon not a second later as Kirabi spotted ice crystal in the air.

"It's over."

* * *

**_Author's Notes_**

The final chapter of the Fishermen Islands Arc! This chapter practically wrote itself after all the wonderful and inquisitive reviews I received from you guys. A final chapter dedicated to ass kicking of the bad guys till the next arc begins that I hope to be even better!

See you next time – in the meanwhile, drop me a line or two and tell me what you thought of this chapter.

…

**Jutsu Used:**

_(Jutsu: Suiton! Suijinheki - Water Encampment Wall!) - C rank, defensive, close range. The Water Encampment Wall Technique is a basic defensive technique that utilizes the water element. This technique requires a source of water or chakra converted to water to be executed._

_(Jutsu: Kenshiko - Sabre Toothed Tiger!) - ? rank, offensive, ? range. A simple stab of Satoru's sword can create any animal he desires. Satoru carries a mould on his left hand that is in the form of the animal he is going to create. Usually, Satoru sticks to sabre toothed tiger._

_(Jutsu: Raiken - Lightning Fist!) - B rank, offensive, short range. A technique passed down from teacher to student in Kumogakure. This technique requires a chakra coating around the hand before expelling lightning chakra on top of it. It's piercing power is quite destructive and it is powerful enough to go through boulders with ease. **Derived jutsu:** Raikyū no Jutsu (Lightning Ball)._

_(Jutsu: Raiton! Raikyū no Jutsu - Lightning Ball Technique!) – B rank, offensive, short range. Yugito's second original technique, in which she uses the concept of the lightning fist, but expels the chakra out of her hand and forms it into a shell.. **Parent jutsu:** Raiken (Lightning Fist). **Derived jutsu: **Raikyū Nibai (Lighting Ball Twofold)._

_(Jutsu: Ibitsu Jikan Kanchi - Warped Time Perception!) B rank, supplementary, short range. This jutsu will cause the opponent's mind to have warped perceptions of the world, as though time is slowing down. Inexperienced shinobi will often suffer serious injury or death at the hands of this technique as they cannot defend while stuck in this genjutsu._

_(Jutsu: Bachi no Hiryū! Kagidzume no Hiryū - Divine Punishment of the Ice Dragon! Claw of the Ice Dragon!) - ? rank, offensive, long range. Tōshirō no Shiroi's strongest technique, which could only be used in conjunction with the legendary blade Hiryū no Shikon. During the feuds in the land of Sun, Tōshirō no Shiroi often used this technique to end a battle quickly. Not many techniques can counter this move and not many have lived to tell about it. The chakra taxation on this technique is extremely high and can cause instant death should it be used by one with low reserves._

_(Jutsu: Henka! Nii Han - Transformation! Second Version!) ? rank, ? type, ? range. Kirabi unleashes the Hachibi's power and wraps it around him to form a miniature ox without actually releasing the Hachibi. In this version Kirabi had access to all of the Hachibi's power but the Hachibi itself is not released. While in this transformation, Kirabi carriers the skeleton of an ox on his back._

_(Jutsu: Banrai – Heavy Thunder!) - A rank, offensive, long range. By gathering an enormous amount of chakra in her hands, Yugito is able to fire of a giant wave of thunder. The thunder clap that follows shortly after is the reason why Yugito named it the Banrai. Currently not much is known about this jutsu other than its destructive nature. It is close to completion at the moment._


	11. Secrets Revealed

**Kumogakure Ninja**

Posted: 19-08-10

Updated 12-03-11

* * *

CH11: Secrets Revealed

* * *

Naruto woke up with a loud groan.

His muscles ached, his throat was dry and he literally felt as if his head was cracked open. "Bastard," Naruto remembered how many times Takezo had driven his head into the ground face first. No wonder he could practically taste the concussion. Naruto doubted the Kyūbi would heal him. The bastard refused to heal him unless it was absolutely necessary.

Naruto crawled out of his sleeping bag and looked around the tent. Hari snored loudly and mumbled incoherently under his breath. Naruto shook his head, his best friend deserved to sleep in after what he put himself through yesterday. Tell tale signs of chakra exhaustion were easily spotted on his friend's sleeping figure; perspiration, crusted lips from dehydration, cold sweat and if he opened his eyes Naruto bet he would have blood shot eyes to boot.

Naruto spread the curtains and left the tent to join Kirabi, Yugito, Darui and Shi while they were discussing what to do next. They all sat on opposite tree logs they had cut down when they enlarged their campsite last night. In a neat row beside them were the bound, seemingly asleep, forms of Shinji, Saturo and Takezo.

"I put them under a heavy genjutsu so they won't be able to wake up for a day or two. We might have to recast it on that Shinji guy each day," Shi nudged his boot against said captive's head. "He's suffering from severe chakra exhaustion but according to the book he's notoriously known for his genjutsu. His mind may break out of it earlier than we expect him to." By 'the book' Shi was referring to the famous bingo book.

Darui said in his usually low voice, "These two should be fine. The fat one isn't even resisting and this guy here, Saturo, had a little breakdown before he went down. I doubt he'll be able to break out within two days."

Kirabi nodded, "I see. Well, I'll leave you in charge of that, yo!" Kirabi offered Shi a fist bump who eagerly bumped fists with him albeit a little awkwardly with lack of experience. "Yo, it's tha midget!" Kirabi announced as Naruto sat down next to Darui.

"Fuck you," Naruto shot back, not missing a beat as he reached over a grabbed a water bottle from his sensei's bag. Naruto met Yugito's gaze, "How's your arm?" he asked her.

"It's fine." Yugito's arm was in a sling due to it being broken and pulled out of its socket by Shinji's demonic summon.

"Good." was all Naruto had to offer before he downed his water bottle in one go.

Darui turned to Naruto with an appreciating smile, "I heard you took out one of them on your own. That's impressive, very impressive."

Naruto grinned with pride at the compliment. "Of course! What did you expect, I'm next in line to be the Raikage!"

Darui and Shi shot Kirabi a questioning look.

The jōnin merely waved it off, "Don't flex it, yo, the midget's concussion must be worse than we thought it would be. Check it, I-"

"We understand," Shi said hastily. Kirabi's inexplicable noises, which he called _beat boxing_, were notoriously feared in Kumo. Shi turned to Naruto with a grin, "Well, keep it up and one day you might be signing our pay checks, kiddo."

Naruto beamed with pride. "The first thing I'm gonna do is fire his ass!" Naruto shouted as he pointed at Kirabi. "No, wait! I'll make him do my paperwork all day while I slack off!"

They all shared a good laugh, except for Yugito who got back to the topic at hand.

"Sensei, the village is free now, correct?" Yugito received a curt nod. "Then what are we going to do about the absence of the villagers?"

"We're going back to Kumo. On the way, we can drop by their sister village and seek out the village leader. Once we get back, I'm sure my bro will send some aid workers here," Kirabi told her as he turned to Naruto. "Kage Bunshins aren't going to cut it, Naruto. They'll need real workers to help them rebuild this dump."

Naruto closed his mouth, his question already answered. "What about Hari?" Naruto asked a moment later. "He's exhausted, so how are we going to transport him as well?"

"I'll carry him," Kirabi replied. "You'll have to help Yugito out while Darui and Shi transport the prisoners."

Naruto shot Yugito a look and nodded to the surprise of Yugito and Kirabi. Apparently all it took for him to be considerate towards her was to receive an injury.

"I don't need his help, sensei," Yugito looked at her sensei. "I don't need both my arms to walk."

Kirabi looked at her with a grin and said, "Fine, then you can carry your own stuff."

"On second thought..." Yugito said with a thoughtful look as she looked at Naruto. "My arm _is_ hurting."

They all shared a laugh at Naruto's expense; even Yugito had a little smile on her face.

…

It was an hour later when they were all packed up and getting ready to leave Hari woke up. He and Naruto exchanged few quick words about their fights before Hari went back to sleep on his sensei's back. Chakra exhaustion had really taken it out of him. They had to stop quite a few times for breaks so that Hari could have a drink of water. Dehydration was one of the main symptoms when it came to chakra exhaustion and it was imperative Hari drank a lot of fluids for a fast recovery. Begrudgingly, Shinji received the same treatment.

"Could you go any slower?" Yugito said sarcastically as she and Naruto were straggling behind the rest. The cat _jinchūriki_ was nimble on her feet despite her injury, but was forced to stay next to Naruto in case they were ambushed.

"Well, forgive me for having to carry your bag as well as mine!" Naruto shot back, making more of an effort and jumping the trees to Yugito's right. "I don't see why Kirabi didn't seal our bags in his frickin' scroll!" Naruto complained.

"Stop your petulant whining, you're a shinobi, Uzumaki," Yugito told him, enjoying the situation Naruto was in. "If you can't even carry a bag, then what are you doing here? A shinobi has to be _strong_."

"Shut up!"

Yugito continued, "Darui-senpai and Shi-senpai are carrying actual people and they're ahead of us, weakling."

"Fuck you!"

"Not even in your wildest dreams, Uzumaki."

Naruto grimaced at what Yugito was insinuating, "You're sick!"

The genin continued to bicker until Kirabi called them to a halt nearly an hour later. The day had drifted into the afternoon.

"I see the villagers up ahead, yo! Looks like Naruto's clones disappeared yesterday," Kirabi said as they all stopped behind him on tree branches. "Probably happened when he got knocked the fuck out by Takezo."

"Fuck you!" Naruto replied heatedly. "He didn't knock me out. He just... gave me a concussion, that's all."

"Great, like you needed to be anymore brain damaged," Yugito replied without missing a beat.

Darui looked at Shi and chuckled as Yugito and Kirabi attacked Naruto about his intelligence and height. "Shi, how are you holding up?" Darui asked his partner.

Shi was carrying Shinji while Darui carried the bound forms of Saturo and Takezo. "I'm good, you?"

Darui merely nodded and turned to Kirabi. "So, are we gonna go down there, senpai?"

Kirabi nodded and led them down to the villager's camp.

…

As they approach the camp site they met up with village's leader, Hattori, and his militia commander Kenji.

"Uzumaki-san's clones disappeared a few hours after we left the village," Kenji explained to them. "After Seido-san (Hari) left us, we were defenseless so we decided to make camp and wait. What's left of the militia kept guard during the night."

Once Kirabi explained to them what happened, they decided to travel to their sister village instead of returning. Kirabi made no objection seeing as the village had been ransacked and they still had injured and sick people to take care of.

Kirabi's clones transformed into oxen and began tugging the carriages while Darui and Shi emptied one for their captives, whom they reinforced the genjutsu on and bound with metal chains Kenji provided. Shi attached a water IV to Shinji's arm now that there was space for it. This all meant the sick were a slightly cramped in other carriages, but it was necessary. Hari was tucked into a carriage with the children whom protectively laid a blanket on him and slept close to him. While Shi kept guard on the prisoners, Darui reared the convoy and Kirabi lead it with Kenji. Yugito and Naruto took the left and right flanks respectively.

Upon entering the camp site Naruto was thrilled to see Emiko who immediately pulled him into a hug. "Naruto!" Emiko gushed as Naruto returned the hug. "You guys actually won! You defeated the Akumu Shokō!"

Naruto grinning and rubbing his nose had told her, "All thanks to me! I told you I could do it!"

Guarding the left flank, Yugito could hear Naruto say it to Emiko. "Yeah, right," the young kunoichi snorted and turned her attention the carriage between herself and her idiotic teammate.

"Nee-san," a young girl maybe three years old smiled Yugito, stretching her chubby arms through the fences to touch Yugito's hair. "Nee-san, I like your hair!"

Yugito couldn't help but smile at the pig tailed girl. "Thank you," Yugito walked closer to the carriage so that the child could touch her pony tail.

"It's so soft!" the child squealed. "Nee-san, what happened to your arm? Did you get hurt?"

"Oh, this?" Yugito looked at her arm, "I hurt myself a little but I'll be okay. It doesn't hurt so much."

Meanwhile Hari had opened his eyes and looked at his female teammate talking to the girl. It wasn't what Hari had expected to see when he woke up. Hari had always thought Yugito was a bitch, plain and simple. In their academy days, she kept to herself and ignored everyone but the teachers, who absolutely loved her since she always had the highest scores.

Hari looked intently at Yugito, _"It was probably hard for to make friends seeing as she was so much better than most girls her age and she sure as hell beat them in the looks department." _Hari knew it was pointless to deny it, Yugito was a babe. A bitch she may be, but a babe nonetheless.

Yugito caught Hari's eye. "You're up." It was statement not a question. "Go back to sleep, you're suffering from chakra exhaustion," she commanded.

Hari shook his head, "It's all right. I'm just a little thirsty." To his surprise Yugito immediately passed him a bottle of water. When she spotted his questioning look she told him, "Kirabi-sensei told me to keep an eye on you."

"What happened to your arm?" Hari asked while accepting the bottle of water. By now the children had stopped their attempts at being quiet and began to play in the large carriage.

"Broken, dislocated," Yugito said dismissively. "One of the Akumu Shokō, the younger brother Shinji, caught me in a genjutsu."

"A genjutsu did that to you?"

"Of course not. His ogre summon did while I was in trapped in his genjutsu."

"Sounds like some battle," Hari admitted. "I'm glad you're okay." By the look Yugito gave him, Hari mentally kicked himself. Maybe he was trying too hard to be nice to her.

"What are you trying at, Seido?" Yugito demanded looking suspiciously at him.

"_Great, back to last names," _Hari thought bitterly. "Nothing. I just think we shouldn't be fighting all the time."

"Why the sudden change of mind?" Yugito continued to eye him with suspicion.

"Could you just stop being so paranoid?"

"No."

Hari sighed and put down his water bottle. "On the two occasions I fought Saturo by myself, I was completely overwhelmed. I had no chance of winning and if it weren't for Kirabi sensei and those other guys I would have been dead by now."

"What's your point?" Yugito asked not seeing where this was going. "You foolishly faced a superior opponent twice. That was because of your incompetence and foolishness. It has nothing to do with me."

"Listen!" Hari said ignoring her harsh comment. "When I was about to die for the second time, Darui and Shi came to my rescue. In the end, we defeated him together. Don't you see?" When Yugito shook her head, Hari continued, "I learned from that battle there are going to be times we will be facing enemies far stronger than any of us. And in those times we're going to have to rely on each other and we can't do that if we're constantly fighting amongst ourselves."

Yugito said nothing for a full minute, instead looking into Hari's eyes. She knew he was sincere and this wasn't some joke to him. "Fine," Yugito conceded eventually. "I'll work with you."

"No, not just me," Hari told her, "Naruto's a part of our team too."

"He's an insufferable shinobi wannabe," Yugito spat. "I'd rather take my chances than fight along him."

"Yeah, well guess what! We're stuck together till Kirabi-sensei says otherwise, so like it or not, we're going to have to rely on each other to have our backs!" Hari's raised voice scared the children in the carriage with him and instantly calmed down. "Look," Hari tried again, "I know you don't hate Naruto as much as you say you do."

"What are you implying, Hari?" Yugito asked, kicking herself for using his first name. She _never_ called her teammates by their first names.

"Don't play dumb with me, Nii. I know you're not as much of a bitch as you make yourself out to be."

Yugito glared at the 'bitch' remark. "You don't know me. Stop deluding yourself into thinking you do."

"Let me ask you something, what are your aspirations in life?" Hari seemed genuinely curious in what she had to say. "Aside from becoming a powerful shinobi that is."

That was an easy question. "Not that it's any of your business but I plan on joining the ANBU once I reach the rank of jōnin." Yugito glanced over to Naruto and his new _girlfriend _and then back to Hari. "Why does that have to do with anything?"

"You're strong, Nii. Stronger that most people would give you credit for," Hari said but quickly continued when he saw Yugito's look, not wanting to give her the impression he was coming on to her, "But you're not invincible. You're going to have to team up with me, Kirabi-sensei _and _Naruto. Hell, how do you even expect to be let into the ANBU if you can't work in a team?"

This left Yugito speechless. How _was _she going to cope if she were unable to work with anyone? "Shut up and go back to sleep, Seido."

"Fine, just think about what I said, Yugito," Hari used her first name on purpose. They both knew he didn't use her first name unless it was followed by a negative comment. But that would change, he vowed to himself.

Hari laid back into hay and pulled his blanket over himself and he quickly fell asleep.

-ooo-

It was night time when they stopped to make camp. It took a while for the villagers to settle. Kenji and Darui left for the woods leading a team of militia men to go hunting as the fish had spoiled under the hot sun.

"Want to go for a walk, Naruto?" Emiko asked the blond who sat by the fire shortly after he finished delivering an exaggerated version of how he had defeated Takezo to the children with the assistance of Hari who provided the special effects.

"What?" Naruto asked as he got up, ignoring Hari's lecherous leer and thumbs up.

"Let's go for a walk," Emiko repeated. "The night's beautiful."

Naruto looked at Hari who said, "It's cool, I got this," before turning to the kids and say, "Okay, kids, who wants to hear how I defeated the Ice Demon Saturo?"

Naruto smiled nervously and walked next to Emiko towards the forest. Soon enough, Emiko began leaning against him as they walked under the beautiful night sky. Naruto gulped nervously. Emiko was far more mature than he was and _very_ beautiful, not to mention at least two or three years old than he was.

"Naruto-kun," Emiko called his attention and halting to a stop after ten minutes of walking in silence. "Remember that day you were training and you promised me you would defeat the Akumu Shokō?"

Naruto felt his cheeks redden, she was so close and her kimono was ever so slightly parted. He was having an excruciatingly hard time looking at her face. "Y- yeah?" Naruto stammered as he noticed how full her lips were.

"I owe you a thank you," Emiko said before she drew him into a mind blowing kiss.

Naruto closed his eyes and clumsily leaned into it. This was his first kiss and he was far too inexperienced to know whether he was doing it right. But damn it was he eager to learn!

Emiko encouraged him by licking his lips. Naruto followed her lead, opening his mouth and a fierce battle of tongues ensued. Emiko's moan got a rise out of Naruto. His boxers suddenly felt too tight.

Eventually, after two more minutes of tongue tying, Emiko broke away and breathed heavily. "How was that for sincere?" she asked playfully.

Naruto was red in the face but answered anyway, "That's the best 'thank you' I've ever gotten!"

From his look Emiko knew he had thoroughly enjoyed it. "Let's go on that walk," she said with a cheeky grin.

An hour later, Naruto returned to camp with a goofy smile on his face. That was the most memorable walk he ever had.

"So how was it?" Hari asked him with a grin, putting down the small book on Hunter Nin. "From the look on your face I assume it was rather good?"

"You have no idea!" Naruto sat down on the log across his best friend. "It was amazing."

"Tongue?" Hari asked him like a typical boy would do after his best friend had his first kiss. When Naruto dumbly nodded his grin widened. "Alright!"

"Have you ever kissed a girl?" Naruto asked his best friend. This wasn't usually a subject they would discuss. It was mostly typical guy stuff such as sports, ninjutsu and anime. Nothing related to this subject ever came up.

"Of course I have," Hari told him. "Remember Mayabi from our class?" When Naruto nodded Hari grinned again, "We made out once behind the sparring hall."

"No way, she was frickin' hot!"

"I know!"

"Didn't she have a boyfriend though?"

This discussion continued until Yugito approached them with a disgusted look.

"You do know you're shinobi and on a mission, right?" she said to them. "What you're talking about is completely inappropriate."

Naruto looked at her and had a stupid, knowing smile plastered on his face.

"What are you smirking about, Uzumaki?" Yugito hissed.

"You've never kissed a boy, have you?" Naruto said with a laugh.

"That's none of your business, _Uzumaki_," Yugito hissed at him. "Why are we even talking about this?"

"Just admit it, Nii-"

"Naruto, do I have to remind you, you only got your first kiss like an hour ago and you couldn't stop grinning about it?" Hari interjected to both of his teammates' surprise. "It doesn't give you much space to brag."

Yugito shot him a thankful glance before rounding on Naruto, "From what I also can recall the most _action _you got before that was peeping on a girl." She knew it was a low blow but he had it coming.

Naruto opened his mouth instantly but closed it just a quick. "Low blow," he eventually managed.

"Indeed," Yugito said with toothy smile.

Eventually, the topic shifted to something they could talk about eagerly; ninjutsu. Naruto was practically begging Hari for his Karyūdan but the brown haired sensory type ninja utterly refused him but offered him either his Endan or Hōsenka instead for his Akkai Genshuku. Begrudgingly, Naruto traded his Akkai Genshuku for Hari's Hōsenka but absolutely denied him his Shippū Shūren when he was asked for it. Yugito was pestered by both her teammates for her Banrai, despite the fact Hari hadn't even seen it he was still absolutely certain he wanted it after Naruto told him powerful it was. She flatly refused but traded her Raikyū with Hari for his Endan and Naruto's Daitoppa for her Shūrai. The next thirty minutes, they genin spent huddled up writing detailed instructions for the techniques.

"You're calligraphy is awful, Uzumaki. It's like a drunken infant wrote this."

"Shut up! You don't hear me complaining about you using big words. What the hell does 'aggregate' even mean?"

"It means to accumulate, moron."

"What?"

"You guys, come on!"

Kirabi watched the scene with a proud smile on his face. His team had finally begun to form an understanding with one another.

-ooo-

The following day, they reached one of _Ritoru Haaku's_ sister villages, _Kawasumi._ As they said their goodbyes, Naruto had disappeared only to reappear an half hour later with a stupid grin while eying Emiko and his right hand constantly.

While her teammates assembled their bags Yugito quickly sought out Emiko. Yugito lead her away from the rest of the villagers and took a deep breath before asking her question. "What do you see in him?"

"Who, Naruto?" Emiko asked to which Yugito simply nodded. "Well, I kinda thought he was-" then it dawned on her and she gave Yugito a knowing look. "He's so headstrong and willful and I don't know but he's kinda cute."

"More like an idiot…," Yugito grumbled under breath before she looked Emiko in the eye. "Thanks."

Emiko took a thoughtful posture and then said with a grin, "You'd make a nice couple. He's a great kisser."

"What?" Yugito stammered blushing furiously at the insinuation. "Me and that little, obnoxious-" Yugito stopped herself when she saw Emiko's grin. "It's never going to happen."

"If that's what you really think, then why did you take me aside and ask me in private?"

"No reason," Yugito said and quickly spun on her heels and headed over to her team.

Emiko grinned and shook her head. "At least he'll be in good hands," she said to herself before following Yugito.

…

"So, how do you feel, huh?" Kirabi asked jumping from tree to tree alongside his students with Hari riding his back and awake. "I'd say you completed your first A rank mission, yo!"

The genin beamed with pride at the compliment.

"All thanks to me!" Naruto was quick to declare with a huge grin on his face as he jumped the trees backwards to face his team.

"Yeah, right, Uzumaki," Yugito said with a hint of amusement. "You were the only one moaning about your headache."

Naruto flustered in embarrassment as everyone laughed at his expense. Kirabi quickly claimed the only thing smaller than Naruto was his brain which was nonexistent. In response, Naruto hurled a string of profanities with shocking expertise to which they all shared a laugh.

-ooo-

(Days Later)

Four days passed before they reached the foot of Kumogakure's mountain. Naruto's mouth opened in awe as he looked up, attempting to look past the clouds. It was a beautiful sight and even Darui and Shi, who revealed they were always out on missions and saw this sight on return, took a moment to appreciate it.

"It looks nothing like when you're going down, baldy," Naruto offhandedly remarked to his teacher. "I mean, it was looked neat when we went down but this is frickin' awesome!"

"Yeah, you're right, midget," Kirabi insulted just as absentmindedly in response as he took of his shades to admire the view fully. "Alright, we're going through the shinobi transport service. We'll take a private cart up to the village."

Fifteen minutes later after they had provided the officials with necessary identification they sat in the cart. Even Yugito couldn't stop herself from showing some interest in the beautiful sight. For the duration of the cart ride they spoke about their mission, eventually the subject changed to the captives.

"What will happen to the captives, Kirabi-sensei?" Yugito asked as she sat to a bench on his left. "They attacked Kumo's allies. Doesn't that make them enemy combatants?"

Kirabi briefly looked to the benches on the right at Darui who nodded and then to Shi who did the same and turned to Yugito. "Since they claim they had the backing of rogue operatives in the council, we'll have to speak about this to my bro. He'll do what's necessary to hand out consequences."

"You don't sound very sure about that, sensei," Hari observed. "You think they'll get away with it? Killing all those people..."

"What? That can't be possible!" Naruto interjected hotly. "You're telling me they're going to get away with everything?"

Darui looked towards his fellow jōnin who were busying themselves with checking the genjutsu on the captives. "I don't know yet. If their actions were backed by a councilor with enough rep... Even so, I doubt they'll be let off easily but it's a _delicate _situation when it comes to handling with councilors."

"Why's that?" Naruto demanded, not understanding where this was going.

"Because, idiot," Yugito explained, "Politics aren't as simple as white and black. It's not that simple to take a man down if he's got not only his whole clan to back him up but favours with others as well. Not to mention if he happens to have the backing of our Daimyo. If he does, then there's no way we can do anything against him."

Hari frowned, "That's not right, sensei. Aren't there any laws against sanctioning missions done by outsiders? I mean, there's a council for a reason, right? What would be the point if one or two of them could hire third parties to do something in Kumo's name without discussing it first?"

"Yeah, what he said," Naruto said, not really understanding the meaning of 'sanctioning' or the concept of 'third parties' but it sounded intelligent so he went with it.

Kirabi looked at his male students on the opposite bench and then to bench on his left where Yugito sat and said, "I don't know what's going to happen either. We're still going to have to interrogate those guys over there before any action can be taken against the councilors behind this." The answer didn't suffice but fortunately his students dropped the argument. "When we get off the cart, I want you guys to go home relax and meet with me at our usual training ground three days from now. I've got a big surprise for you."

This, of course, piqued his team's interest. Kirabi's 'surprises' were usually pranks or something stupid like a D rank mission or even worse like one of Kirabi's 'rap concerts' at the local karaoke bar. However, Kirabi seemed genuinely excited this time.

"Surprise?" Yugito repeated as she eyed her sensei carefully, "This isn't one of your karaoke nights we're talking about... is it?"

"Yeah, sensei," Hari said nervously, "Last time you took us there we, ah, got kicked out, remember?"

"Cause you sucked," Naruto said without mercy. "You got drunk and you started shouting at people."

Kirabi chuckled, letting the last comment slide. "Just meet me at the training ground at ten, don't be late."

His students finally nodded and the rest of the thirty minute cart ride went by quickly. Once they got out they split up walking into separate directions; Kirabi went along with Darui and Shi to deliver the captives and the students went to their respective homes.

-ooo-

Hari dug his hands deep into his pockets as he walked through the market square towards the apartment complex he was facing. Hari sighed heavily and jumped the last steps of the stairs as he reached the third floor.

The genin could already smell the booze from the door and cursed under his breath, "Fuck!" Hari quickly unlocked the door and shouted, "I'm home! Ka-chan? Nami? Daisuke!"

Sure enough he heard a squeal coming from the living room causing him to sigh and smile in relief shortly before being tackled by a little bundle of energy.

"Nii-chan, you're home!" Nami was a six year old girl and younger sister of Hari. Like her brother, Nami had brown hair and brown eyes. She was of average height for a girl her age but skinny due to her love for running. Nami wore a cute little green dress and slippers. "Where have you been?"

Hari smiled at the pouting child as he easily lifted her up. "I've been away on a mission. Didn't Ka-chan tell you?" When the little girl shook her head, Hari sighed. "Well, that doesn't matter anymore. I'm home now! Where's Daisuke?"

Daisuke was Hari younger brother and Nami's older fraternal twin name after his grandfather, Seido Daisuke. Daisuke, unlike most in his family, had black hair and brown eyes. He was, like his older brother, quite tall for his age and intelligent. He was very close to his twin and shared the same dream with his older brother to become a Hunter Nin one day. Daisuke and Nami had recently begun their junior academy years.

"He's out with Obaa-chan! They went shopping and told me to stay home and look after Ka-chan."

Hari frowned, "Where's Ka-chan now, Nami?"

His sister pointed down the hall to their mother's bedroom. The stench of alcohol was stronger by her door than anywhere else in the house. Hari looked into the living room and saw what a mess it was. Mentally making a note to ask Naruto to teach him the Kage Bunshin, Hari placed Nami in front of their small TV and went into his mother's room.

Sure enough, he found her sleeping on her bed, still in her day clothes and a bottle of alcohol on the nightstand. Seido Takumi snored softly in her sleep. Her long brown hair strewn over her shoulders and eyes were swollen with crying herself to sleep. Hari walked over to his mother's sleeping form and pulled a blanket over her. As he did this she woke up and stared at him with glazed, red eyes still swollen from crying all night.

"Where have you been?" Hari's mother demanded in a raspy voice. "Where have you _fucking _been?"

"On a mission, Kaa-chan." Hari didn't want to fight with her. "I told you that, don't you remember?"

"No, I don't," Takumi hissed at her son. "Leave it!" Takumi hissed as Hari grabbed the bottle.

Hari glared at her and said firmly, "No."

"You're just like your father. Selfish little bastard." Takumi instantly regretted it as she saw the look on Hari's face. "I'm sorry, son... It's just that you look just like him."

"Get some sleep. I'll have the payment tomorrow so don't worry about the rent."

Takumi didn't hear him, already dozing off to sleep.

Hari shook his head. That bastard had done this to their family and even as he rotted in prison he continued to tear their family apart.

-ooo-

Three days passed in a blur for Naruto. After a full day of resting, he had met up with Hari and other genin from their old class. After a little reunion at the local restaurant, Hari and Naruto begged off to go train.

Naruto had shown to be quite proficient with the Hōsenka, being able to blow eight fireballs the sixth time. Yugito's Shūrai, however, turned out to be difficult. It took him a full day to generate sparks and another full day to actually form a lightning ball around his hands. Hari on the other hand had difficulty with the Akkai Gunshuku. He was already able to make a small Raikyū in his right hand.

To their immense surprise, Yugito joined them on the second day of training, despite her still very much injured arm. She had encountered a little difficulty with the Endan but eventually managed to produce a fireball half the size of Hari's. It was the Daitoppa she had a real problem with, though she was able to make a gust which was nowhere near powerful enough to be useful for anything other than knocking projectiles of their course.

Three days after they had arrived at Kumo the team met up at their usual training ground at ten in the morning. Kirabi was nowhere to be seen, which was odd as he was usually on time.

"Where's sensei?" Naruto grumbled loudly. "He's fifteen minutes late."

As if on cue, Kirabi appeared in front of them with a puff of smoke. "Yo, sorry I'm late!"

"I really need to learn how to do that," Naruto said and Hari nodded in agreement.

"Why are you late, sensei?" Yugito queried, "You're never late."

Kirabi merely grinned, "I had to see the boss man about something. Anyway, I've got great news for you brats so cut me some slack yo!" When Yugito shot him a dangerous look Kirabi held his arms wide, "What, you trippin' now? Why you frontin' fool?"

Yugito slapped her forehead. For the life of her, she could not understand what her sensei was saying. Not that many could for that matter.

"Just get on with it! Ouch!" Naruto held his head, "Stop hitting me in the head already! You're going to give me brain damage."

"Too late for that," Yugito interjected.

Hari chuckled at the scene and then asked, "Sensei, what's the big news?"

"Alright, settle down and have a seat," Kirabi instructed and as his students sat down in front of him, Kirabi reached into his pouch and retrieved three envelopes. "These are your payments for an A rank mission on top of a C ranked mission."

"No way!" Naruto shouted with a grin as he caught his envelope. "That's awesome!" The genin quickly opened his envelope and read the check out loud, "Two hundred fifty thousand Ryo!"

Hari quickly opened his envelope too, "You serious? Hey, mine too!"

Yugito didn't bother opening her envelope now and looked at her sensei. "Sensei, you look like you've still got something to say."

Kirabi roared in inexplicable laughter. "Damn right I do," the jōnin exclaimed. "We got the bounty on the Akumu Shokō and their two lieutenants."

By the look on Yugito's face, Naruto knew it had to be big. "Seriously? How much are we gonna get of their heads?"

"I forgot about their bounties completely."

Hari looked at his teammates, just as excited. "Come on, sensei, tell us!" If the bounty was substantial enough, he could finally have his sword repaired and they wouldn't have to worry about the rent for a while.

Kirabi looked at Yugito with a grin and nodded. It took her only a second to see what he meant and her hand divided into her pouch from she retrieved the bingo book.

"'For the heads of Okata Seiichi and Okata Shinji, dead or alive, Takigakure offers a bounty of twenty million Ryo'," Yugito recited and continued when her teammates gasped as she turned the page, "'For the Akumu Shokō's lieutenant Takeshi Takezo, dead or alive, Takigaru offers two million Ryo. For the other lieutenant Saturo no Shiroi, dead or alive, Takigare offers three million Ryo.'"

"That's fucking awesome!" Naruto shouted, pumping his fist in the air, "I can't wait to spend some cash!"

Kirabi chuckled; even Yugito seemed to be happy with the results. "We'll split the bounty on the Akumu Shokō between the four of us, so each of you gets five for that. Naruto, you took out Takezo on your own so you can keep the two million, try and spend it on some growth serum or something."

"Hey!"

Kirabi continued and said, "Hari, you'll have to split the bounty on Saturo by three. So you'll have an extra million for yourself."

The genin on team Kirabi grinned, even Yugito cracked a small, satisfied smile. Hari positively beamed with the notion. His ninja-to (**A/N**: mentioned in first chapter) was broken in a sparring match with Naruto weeks before their C, turned A, ranked mission. Now he could finally spare the money to repair it.

"Alright, one more announcement!" Kirabi said with a large grin on his face. He seemed very excited. "You're going to the Chūnin Exam!"

"What?" the genin on his team said simultaneously.

It took Kirabi a full five minutes to get their attention after they began talking and discussing the Chūnin Exam. Naruto, Yugito and Hari were understandably excited, but Kirabi had to make sure they understood what it was really about.

"There's something you need to know about this year's Chūnin Exam..." Kirabi said calling their attention, his voice slightly raised. "It's going to be held in Konoha."

Naruto's eyes widened considerably and his mouth closed. Kirabi saw the look of fright in his eyes. Yugito looked at Naruto, catching on to his reaction and sighed. Unbeknownst to them, even Hari looked surprised, as if he had just had a bucket of ice water dumped over him.

Kirabi audibly sighed as his teammates reacted; only Yugito didn't seem bothered by the aspect of it being hosted in Konoha.

"W- what's going on, guys?" Hari observantly caught the looks going between Kirabi, Yugito and Naruto. It made him feel uncomfortable and left out. "Is there something I should know about?"

Naruto opened his mouth and closed it instantly. He had no idea what to tell Hari and Kirabi made no move to help him, probably thinking he should tell Hari himself. Naruto frowned in frustration and took a deep breath before looking Hari in the eye. "Hari, I'm originally from Konoha."

Hari's eyes bulged, "What?" Hari asked shakily, "You're from Konoha? What do you mean- how's that possible?"

"You know how Kirabi-sensei is respected because of the Hachibi and all that, right?" Naruto asked him.

Hari gulped, it was no secret his sensei was a _jinchūriki_. It was pretty hard not hear a word or two about it since the Hachibi attacked Kumo on more than one occasion. Hari felt weird about it, deciding not to actually approach his teacher about it and rather wait for Kirabi to bring it up. In all honesty, Hari had forgotten all about it during their mission. "Yeah," Hari eventually answered, glancing at Kirabi. "I knew."

"Well, I'm a jinchūriki too," Naruto looked uncomfortable telling him this. "I'm sorry I never told you."

Hari said nothing for a couple of minutes, processing the information he had just received. His best friend, whom he trusted more than anyone, was a _jinchūriki_ and had never told him. "Why?"

Naruto noted the angry tone in Hari's voice and feared the worst. "Because the Kyūbi attacked-!" Naruto found himself on receiving end of Hari's punch. Naruto held his cheek as he locked eyes with his friend.

Yugito and Kirabi shot each other worried glances.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Hari shouted at Naruto. "I find it odd you say I'm your best friend when you don't even trust me!"

Naruto's eyes bulged as he understood the angry look in Hari's eyes. He felt betrayed because Naruto never told him about his secret, not because of what he was. "I'm sorry."

"Fuck your sorry," Hari said fiercely. "I thought we were best friends."

"We are!" Naruto shouted.

"Then why didn't you tell me?" Hari's tone was awfully cold.

"Because... I didn't want you to get freaked out about it. Not everyone feels comfortable around a _jinchūriki_."

"You know me better than that," Hari said with a glare under which Naruto seemed to shrink. After another minute of silence, Hari spoke again. "So you ran away from Konoha because they didn't accept you for who you are?"

"Accept me? They didn't even tolerate me being alive."

For the next few hours, Hari would be indulged into the team's secret. They told him everything. They told him about the Biju, their training and Naruto went into a little bit of detail about his past. In the end, Hari felt relieved but at the same time felt a pitch of sympathy – which he wouldn't voice, knowing Naruto's reaction already – as well of a sense of being left out.

"So, we're not going then?" Hari asked eventually. "I mean, Naruto's a runaway _jinchūriki_." The word felt foreign to his mouth and he didn't like it. 'Power of Human Sacrifice' sounded so wrong.

"Not exactly," Kirabi said looking at Naruto. "The Hokage knows of Naruto's whereabouts. My brother sent him a messenger hawk a few weeks ago when we left for our mission."

Yugito looked at her teammate and then at her teacher, "So, what did he say, sensei?"

"He wants to speak to Naruto the minute he arrives in Konoha," Kirabi said, eying Naruto for his response.

To everyone but Kirabi's surprise, Naruto smiled. "Sure, I'd love to see Jiji again."

"Good, now that all the secrets are out of the way," Kirabi said clapping his hand with a grin. "It's time I tell you about the Chūnin Exam."

* * *

**_Author's Notes_**

OK, that was chapter eleven. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Drop me a line or two... or three - whichever takes your fancy.


	12. Hari's Secret

**Kumogakure Ninja**

Posted: 20-08-10

Updated: 28-06-11

* * *

CH12: Hari's Secret

* * *

"This year's Chūnin Exam will be held in Konoha and commence on the first of October. Because they host the exams, their teams will not be told what to expect. Though I've got a good feeling a couple of sons of bit- I mean sensei will tell their students anyway. This year's exam will be the largest one in nearly two decades. There will be six teams from the Five Great Shinobi Villages. All the smaller villages will be sending in three teams each.

Because this year's exam will have the highest amount of genin in nearly a decade, the tasks have been slightly modified. The first task will be an information gathering task with a special twist at the end. I still don't know what that's going to be, but try and be prepared. The second part of the exam will be a lot more difficult. For ten days you'll be trapped in Konoha's infamous training ground forty-four, or otherwise known as the Forest of Death. It's of the up most importance you know how to survive in this forest as it is known for its unusual selection of overgrown animals.

During the second task, you will be given one scroll out of four. The four scrolls are Heaven, Earth, Darkness and Light. It is your objective to capture the three scrolls you do not have in your possession. During this part of the task, you will find out what it is to be a ruthless shinobi. Death is a common occurrence in this task.

To prepare you for this task, we, your teacher, Darui and I have started with designing a training regimen. In order to survive in the harsh environments of the forest, you will have to learn multiple new jutsu to adapt. Some as simple as a genjutsu to cover your tracks or an earth jutsu to make a cave for shelter."

Shi continued to pour the information in Kirabi's students as his partner and Kirabi discussed suitable techniques to teach them for the exam.

"I still say I could've covered all that with ma rap! Hey that rhymes!" Kirabi caught the questioning look Darui gave him and conceded, "Okay, fine, but you could have still let me do it anyway!"

"I was thinking we teach them genjutsu, Suiton jutsu and Fūinjutsu for now. Those would be great for the second task of the exam," Darui continued as Kirabi nodded in approval, "After that, I suggest Doton jutsu and kenjutsu."

"Alright. I'll teach kenjutsu and Fūinjutsu if you cover Suiton jutsu and Shi covers Doton and genjutsu," Kirabi said. "I never really had any use for anything but my kenjutsu and Raiton jutsu, ya know?"

Shi continued to drill information into the genin's minds for an hour before they were finally dismissed.

"Be here tomorrow at six in the morning. It's only three months till the exam now and you need to get in as much training as possible."

The genin quickly left the training ground, leaving Darui, Shi and Kirabi to discuss exactly what they would have to teach them.

-ooo-

"So, what do you guys think?" Naruto asked his teammates as they walked down the road. "I'm pretty excited." Naruto was wearing black shinobi trousers with a plain white shirt and a flak jacket with many pockets for scrolls and projectiles. The young shinobi wore his standard black shinobi sandals and had white bandage wrapped around his calves, wrists and index and middle fingers. His kunai and shuriken holsters were attached right and left thighs respectively. Naruto opted to wear his headband on his forehead instead of his bicep like usual.

"Yeah, same here!" Hari grinned, briefly forgetting the exam was in Konoha. "I'm psyched Darui-san and Shi-san are helping us out. I really want to learn that Suijinheki of his. It's awesome." Hari had also gone for a change of wardrobe now that they were away from the battle field. The brown haired genin's attire resembled that of a Hunter Nin. Hari wore dark blue shinobi trousers, with a pair of slippers called zōri, a white, loose fitting shirt and a dark blue kimono robe on top. Hari's holsters were carefully hidden under his kimono and the genin opted to wear his headband on his forehead.

Naruto nodded in agreement, "Hell yeah. Maybe we can learn some cool earth jutsu as well. I've been dying to learn a few of those."

Yugito, still with her right arm in a sling, was about to break of and go her separate way when she caught her teammates' looks. "What?"

"Don't you want to talk about the Chūnin Exam?" Naruto asked her with a infectious smile. "Come on, we need to start working together on strategies!"

Yugito eyeballed the grinning idiot and glanced at Hari who smiled encouragingly at her. "Fine, what do you want to talk about?"

Yugito's attire had changed to compliment her luscious curves. Yugito now wore a sleeveless, purple zip-up halter top that revealed the lower part of her belly that was covered by fishnet mesh. Yugito wore black, skin tight shorts and a skirt with a slit going down her left thigh. Yugito wore black shinobi sandals and had her pouches and pouches hanging from a belt down the small of her back. Yugito had her long blonde hair up in the usual ponytail and had her headband strapped around her right thigh. Overall it was a very bold choice of clothing and even her teammates snuck glances whenever they could.

Hari shot her a grin and nodded, which she didn't return but it was enough. "Let's get something to eat while we talk. I'm starving."

"Food!" Naruto said excitedly, "I haven't eaten in a while either. Let's go!"

"Haven't you two paid attention whatsoever?" Yugito sighed audibly. "We got to stock up on equipment, you simpletons." Even as she said this, Yugito bit back a smile. Their simple minded way of thinking was amusing _sometimes_.

"Oh yeah," Hari recalled, "Well, what do you think we should we get first, Yugito?"

Yugito looked at both her teammates, suddenly uncomfortable with the way they were looking at her. "You're asking me?" Only Hari gave an encouraging nod but it sufficed. "Alright, first off we should go to the shinobi store. We need new gear, such as kunai, shuriken and explosive tags."

Hari and Naruto instantly beamed at the prospect of going shopping for shinobi equipment. It made Yugito sigh in annoyance but she led the way nonetheless.

After a fifteen minute walk they entered a market street and instantly saw a large group of shinobi gathered at the shop. They were all about the same age they were, some were a little bit older but the general expression Yugito got was that they were all genin.

"What do you think is going on over there?" Naruto asked out loud.

"Preparations for the Chūnin Exam," Yugito replied.

"Seems so crowded, why can't we go to the Shinobi Library instead? They got archives on jutsu as well," Hari suggested.

Yugito shook her head, "Most techniques you find in there are useless. The more powerful techniques have been stolen a long time ago."

"Makes sense…" Hari thought back to when Kirabi gave him the scrolls on fire jutsu. They had seemed awfully well kept and looked after. "Alright, let's go then."

Yugito nodded and led her teammates into the establishment through packs of genin discussing their purchased items outside. The shop was incredibly large and the genin on team Kirabi took a moment to inspect it.

The shop was roughly sixty by forty feet with high walls. The shop was simply decorated with a few posters and demonstrative diagrams here and there but for the most part nothing extravagant. The shop was divided in several areas. There was a section on each of the most prominent shinobi arts such as ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu, kenjutsu and several others. There was a whole section of the shop decorated to weaponry and another section to miscellaneous arts such as poison crafting.

"Seido, there's a couple books on fire manipulation over there. You should be able to find some ninjutsu there as well. Go," Yugito commanded with definite authority. "Uzumaki," Yugito turned to Naruto, "You wanted to earth jutsu? Good, follow me."

Naruto didn't know why he did as she said. Normally he would have refused any order she gave him but the authority in her voice silenced any objection he had. That, and Hari's hour long lecture about teamwork and mutual respect he received the day after they returned from their mission.

Naruto followed Yugito through the crowded store, instantly noticing the leers and inappropriate looks the males inside gave her. It made him angry at them for looking at his teammate like that. Not that he couldn't blame them, Yugito was a incredibly beautiful and developed for her age but since she walked around with her arm in a sling and looked so defenseless, Naruto felt a sudden need to be protective of her.

Yugito led him to a corner of the shop and immediately picked up book from the shelf and looked at it. Flicking open the book with her thumb, Yugito read the index and nodded before turning to Naruto. "Take this. It covers the basics of earth manipulation and includes one D rank ninjutsu."

Nodding in thanks, Naruto took the book and waited for Yugito to finish. The prodigy was apparently very picky and took another fifteen minutes to find another book and three earth ninjutsu. While she stood next to him, facing the book case Naruto spotted several perverts stare at her behind. On impulse Naruto moved behind her and glared at the teenagers who glared at him and flipped him off.

"What are you doing, Uzumaki?" Yugito glared at him, not at all comfortable or appreciative of his close proximity.

Naruto stammered something incoherently and blushed in embarrassment feeling murderous towards the other males.

Yugito picked one last ninjutsu scroll from the shelf and turned around, "Follow."

Naruto claimed he was no pervert but Yugito's commanding tone intrigued him. He silent prayed he wasn't into being dominated by women. "Where are we going now?"

"You could use some more Fūton ninjutsu. After that, we're getting a few books and scrolls on Suiton jutsu, understood?" Yugito didn't wait for a reply and led the male jinchūriki to another corner of the of the shop. "Offense or defense?"

"Uh, offense."

"Figured as much. Fūton Dangan should be good for you. You've got a big mouth so you might as well make use of it," Yugito briefly explained the theory behind the technique. "Should come in handy when we're in a pinch."

"That's awesome," Naruto's voice lacked enthusiasm as he caught another few genin stare at Yugito as if she were some hunk of meat.

Yugito merely raised an eye brow but turned back to the shelf and picked up a book on wind manipulation and another scroll. "Take these," Yugito shoved them in her teammate's hands and led him to the water jutsu section.

Naruto's annoyance with the perverts reached murderous levels as he saw a boy his age hiding in the crowd and reaching out to grope Yugito's behind. Naruto instantly dropped the books and scrolls stuffed in his hands and went out to attack but Yugito beat him to it as she turned on her heel and executed a flawless roundhouse kick against the perverted genin, sending him flying into his friends' arms.

As the genin held his bleeding nose, his friends stepped forward in threatening fashion as if they were about to attack them. The shop keepers started shouting for them to leave but the rowdy teenagers refused and closed in on Yugito.

Naruto stepped in front of her and glared fiercely at the leader of the pack. "Make a move and you die." It was not an empty threat.

"Yeah? Well eat this! Katon! Ack!" The brutish genin couldn't move as three senbon had lodged themselves in his neck and two more in his hand.

Hari appeared with a glare that matched Naruto's. "If you and your friends try that again, I'm not going to stop him."

Yugito watched the scene in front of her with a curious feeling in her stomach. Did Uzumaki just stand up for her? The shop keepers quickly appeared and shoved the unruly customers outside. When the commotion died down, Yugito turned to Naruto. "I could've handled it myself."

"I know."

Yugito couldn't hide her surprise fully. "Then why did you?"

"Because we're a team," Hari answered for him. "Anyway, I got what I came for. I found some pretty cool fire jutsu and a few books on medical jutsu."

"Medical jutsu?" Yugito repeated as Naruto picked up the scrolls and books. "I didn't peg you for that type."

"Well, I'm going to be an Oi Nin one day so I'm going to need medical expertise. Beside, someone's gotta look after you two when you're hurt," Hari added with toothy smile.

"So you're done with your shopping?" Yugito asked her teammate who nodded. "Naruto," Yugito turned to her teammate who had picked up their items but was looking at another stall.

"Naruto," Yugito repeated but to no avail. It was as if the blond was in a trance as he eyed the diagram in front of him.

"Naruto, are you alright?" Hari asked with a worried tone.

"Do you guys understand this?" Naruto said finally, pointing at the diagram. The diagram displayed multitude of numbers and figures. "Do you?"

When both his teammates shook their heads Naruto looked confused. "I do."

"What are you talking about, Naruto?" Yugito shared a look with Hari and grabbed Naruto's arm with her non-injured arm. "What are you getting so entranced over?"

Naruto looked her in the eye with such intensity, Yugito felt unnerved. "These seals, I get them. I understand what they mean. Somehow… I understand what they mean."

"How?" Hari asked incredulously, not quite believing what he was hearing. "How do you understand all of that? It's just numbers and symbols."

"I'm getting a few books on these," Naruto decided, ignoring the look on his teammates as he went to fetch a basket and put his ninjutsu books in them. The blond picked up three different books, premade sealing scrolls and blank scrolls as well as two large pots of ink and six different kind of brushes.

"Let him be," Yugito said to Hari as he was about to say something. "It's his choice."

While Naruto continued eyeing his books with fascination, Yugito finished his shopping. She selected three Suiton jutsu, two offensives and one defensive. She also picked up a book on Suiton basics and selected several packs of kunai and shuriken for her teammate. Once she finished selecting Naruto's items, Yugito went searching for herself. Nearly three-quarters of an hour later, Yugito had selected two jutsu from each element except for lightning and purchased a simple wakizashi, as well as a book on swordplay and a few packs of kunai, shuriken, explosive tags and makibishi.

After they finished their shopping, they paid for them at the counter and left.

-ooo-

The shopping expedition took a large bite of out their individual reward money but it was well worth it if they became chūnin because of it.

Hari had gallantly insisted he carry Yugito's bag as she picked a restaurant for them to go to for lunch. Naruto absentmindedly followed the pair, having already opened the book on seals for beginners and reading it. The genin, for a reason unknown to him, was drawn to the art of sealing. It felt very familiar to him, yet distant for some reason. The genin continued to read the book, taking in every word as he followed his teammates into a barbeque restaurant.

"Would you put that down for a minute?" Yugito exclaimed with annoyance as they slid into a booth. "You haven't taken your eyes of that book since we left."

Naruto finally looked up from his book and met Yugito's angry eyes that, unbeknownst to him, held a slight tint worry. "Sorry, it's just interesting."

"You're like child," Yugito remarked, looking at the menu.

"Let's get Kobe beef and shrimps," Hari suggested. "I'm so hungry."

"Yeah, what he said," Naruto had again started reading the book in front of him.

Yugito saw an opening here. "So, you'll pay for everything, Naruto?"

"Yeah, yeah sure."

Hari met her mischievous eyes and said, "Then it's definitely steak for me."

When their food arrived, Yugito forced the book out of Naruto's hands and put it in her pouch. The young shinobi's annoyance soon disappeared as he saw the Kobe beef arrive. Yugito's nose twitched in disgust as Naruto practically inhaled his rice and vegetables, making wet slurping noises as he did so. Hari shrugged with an easy going smile and began eating his food, albeit with a bit more grace than Naruto. Yugito silently blamed Kirabi for being such a bad influence and dug in as well.

"I noticed you bought a wakizashi," Hari said between bites, indicating the big package in one the bags. "I thought you didn't like swords."

"What makes you say that?" Yugito said helping herself to a little ball of rice.

"You didn't use one after the academy," Hari noted. "You were quite good. Why did you stop?"

Yugito shrugged, "Lightning jutsu and metal don't go well together. I figured it was a health risk. But after our mission, I thought I might as well purchase a smaller blade."

"If you want, I could show you a thing or two," Hari offered, picking at his vegetables with his chopsticks.

"Oh? What makes you think you're in any position to show me 'a thing or two', Seido?"

Hari simply smiled, "Do I have to remind you I own a very cool ninjato and I'm _very_ good with?"

"I didn't see it on you either during our mission," Yugito remarked.

"Well, Naruto broke it during- Naruto, what the hell are you doing?" Hari looked at his friend with an incredulous look.

Naruto was dipping his finger in the saucer and was drawing a strange symbol of sorts on a napkin. Naruto didn't answer his teammates and instead reached over to Yugito, who ducked out of the way, finding his hand way too close to her chest. As she opened her mouth to say something in justifiable outrage, she saw Naruto had grabbed the salt flask next to her and placed it on the napkin.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Uzumaki?" Yugito hissed as people began turning to see what Naruto was doing.

_Poof!_

The salt had disappeared in a small puff of smoke. Yugito's eyes widened and so did Hari while Naruto jumped, pumping his fist in the air and shouting, "Yes! I got it!"

Hari met Yugito's look and nodded. They stood up and quickly paid for their meal and herded Naruto outside.

"What the _fuck _did just happen?" Yugito demanded as she looked at Naruto. Yugito wasn't known to swear but when she did, it was never a good sign,

"I made a seal," Naruto was still clutching the napkin in his hand. "Look, Kai!" With another '_poof!' _the salt container appeared in his hand and the napkin instantly withered away. "Pretty cool, huh? I only managed to make it a onetime only seal, but it's still pretty awesome."

"You're freaking me out, Naruto," Hari said genuinely unnerved. "You just got that book on seals. How the hell did you manage to do that?"

Yugito nodded in agreement, wanting to know just as badly as Hari did.

"I don't know. I told you in the shop I understood it for some reason. I just do," Naruto's explanation was far from enough. "It just seems familiar, you know?"

"We don't know, but maybe Kirabi-sensei will when we meet him tomorrow," Yugito said to which Hari nodded.

"Fine. Can we just go and train now?" Naruto asked his teammates.

Hari looked to Yugito, who nodded and said, "Alright. Let's find a training ground. I want to try out some of these new techniques."

-ooo-

The genin made their way to a training ground when they heard loud noises closely, followed by laughter. Naruto looked at his teammates and nodded as they began to approach the source of the sounds.

In the middle of the training ground, there were three teenagers roughly two or three years older than themselves. Two of them were fighting each other with swords and another sat against the tree with a smile on his face as he clapped his hands in support for the female as she tried to viciously stab her male opponent.

As soon as the genin of team Kirabi got closer, the spectator called out to his friends who immediately stopped. The spectator then turned to Naruto and co. and held up a hand in friendly greeting.

Shrugging to his friends, Naruto approached the trio. "Yo!" Naruto greeted. Yugito and Hari merely nodded while the two teams sized each other up.

"I'm Kenji," the tallest of the three who had been fighting the girl just now said with an outstretched hand to Naruto. "Saito Kenji."

Kenji was a tall sixteen your with green eyes and black hair, which he done up in a pony tail. Kenji wore ANBU styled pants, with similar plate armour only it was a shade of dark blue rather than the standard black or white. The plate armour carried the Saito coat of arms, two kunai attached to ropes around the kanji for 'fidelity'. Kenji had his headband tied around the bicep on his right arm and had his sword sheath trapped to his right hip. The tall teenager had a set of tree large pouches hanging on the small of his back and had kunai and shuriken holster on his right and left thigh. Kenji seemed like a genuinely good natured guy. This quality made him very inviting for company.

Naruto looked at the hand in front of him and offered a fist bump instead. "Yo!" Naruto repeated with a huge grin. "That was some skill you showed there, senpai."

"Saito Kenji?" Yugito repeated.

"That's right," Kenji answered with a good natured smile. "Do I know you?"

Yugito shook her head, "But I do know you. You graduated at the top of your class two years ago."

"I can't believe people still remember me," Kenji said with a sense of modesty, scratching his cheek.

"They mentioned you when I graduated at the top of our class. I ranked higher on ninjutsu," Yugito had a quizzical smile on her face as she and Kenji eyeballed one another, seizing each other up.

"The name's Uzumaki Naruto!" Naruto introduced himself, "I'm the next Raikage of Kumogakure."

Kenji looked away from Yugito to Naruto and laughed. "That's a good ambition!" Kenji said approvingly. "I hope to be the next Raikage as well. Maybe one day we can fight each other for it."

"I look forward to it!"

Suddenly the girl to Kenji's right gasped. "I know you! You're that Uzumaki kid from the academy!" She shouted pointing at Naruto. "You were the little pervert that hide in the girl's locker room!"

Naruto looked closely at the girl and his eyes widened as he remembered her. "I remember you!" Naruto shouted, pointing back at her. "You're the girl with the mole on her-!"

"Shut up!" Taiko shouted at him, causing Naruto to jump behind Yugito. Fighting a girl he had seen naked would not bode well for him.

"What were you doing in the girl's locker room, Naruto?" Yugito looked at her teammate.

"Prank," Naruto said simply, as if the one word alone would answer her question. Naruto remembered the day quite vividly. The prank was his way saying 'goodbye' to the graduating genin. Once the girls (and guys later on) had finished showering after a taijutsu training session, the orange bars of soap the academy provided coloured their skin orange for the rest of the day. It was a quite good prank in Naruto's opinion.

Kenji smile nervously. "Er, this Nakamura Taiko," Kenji introduced the girl he was sparring with, "She's, uh, my girlfriend."

Nakamura Taiko was a very attractive fifteen year old girl with a petite frame. She had black raven hair with light eerie blue eyes. She wore black, baggy trousers and a tank top that revealed her very generous bust and showed perhaps more cleavage than she was intending to. Taiko carried a sheathed blade on her back and had kunai and shuriken holsters on her right thigh. Taiko only carried one pouch on her left hip. Unlike her lanky teammate, Nakamura had air of up tightness about her which only seemed to increase as she glared at Naruto, who blushed and looked the other way, obviously remembering his little escapade in the girl's locker room two years ago.

"About time," the last remaining teammate snorted. "I'm Tomaro Kenichi," Kenichi introduced himself with a smile, ignoring the look Taiko shot him. "I'm fifteen years old, and single," Kenichi added with a wink towards Yugito.

Tomaro Kenichi was average height with tanned skin, short brown hair and brown eyes. Kenichi wore shinobi trousers and a jacket with a plain black shirt under it and wore his headband on his forehead.

"Nii Yugito," Yugito introduced herself with a neutral look, not bothering to even acknowledge Kenichi's presence. She mentally noted to kick Naruto's ass for embarrassing them.

Hari eyed Tomaru for a moment and sighed, "Seido Hari."

Kenji and Yugito instantly caught the look Kenichi shot Hari and then looked back at their teammates. Both of them pretended nothing happened. Fortunately, Naruto changed the subject, oblivious to what just happened.

"So you guys training for the Chūnin Exam too?" Naruto placed his hands on the back of his head.

Kenji smiled and nodded. "Yeah, we didn't participate last year so we could train harder and do more missions. Since most people don't pass the first time around, so we decided to sit out for a year."

"I'm surprised you're even allowed to enter this year," Taiko commented, eyeing Yugito with a subtle disdain only a woman or a very perceptive man could perceive.

Yugito definitely caught the look. "We earned our place," the prodigy said with a smirk.

"So, you guys came here to train?" Kenji looked at Naruto. "You're welcome to join us. I'd like to see what this year's batch of genin can do."

Naruto nodded with a competitive look. "Sure. What do you suggest?"

Yugito and Hari looked at each other for what seemed to be the thousandth time and sighed simultaneously.

"How about a friendly spar?" Kenji unclasped his body armour and took it off, revealing the simple white shirt he had on under it. The plate armour fell with a heavy thud on the ground.

"Weighted clothes, not bad," Naruto complimented as he took of his black vest and dropped it to the ground with an similar heavy thud. "Our sensei makes me wear the vest when we're not on missions."

Meanwhile, Hari hadn't said a word, opting to closely observe the Tomaro clan member. Just his luck, to run into one of them here.

"Hari, are you in?" Naruto turned to his friend.

Hari looked at his teammate and slowly nodded, "Sure." Hari hoped he wasn't matched up against Kenichi.

"You can't fight like that, can you, Nii?" Kenji looked at Yugito's arm.

To everyone's surprise, Yugito took her arm out of the sling and clenched her fist. "It's fine. I can barely feel it."

"Okay, if you're sure about that, then that's that. I'll take you on, Uzumaki. And to make it seem unbiased, your friend there can fight Taiko-chan. Kenichi, you're up against Nii." Kenji looked at his girlfriend and then Yugito, "Sound fair?"

"Can't I fight the midget?" Taiko said as she glared daggers at Naruto.

Naruto, for his part, had the grace not to reply. The midget comment was fair game as long as he didn't get his ass kicked by an angry girl.

"Er, no, I don't want you to actually hurt him, Taiko-chan," Kenji said to her, shooting embarrassed looks at Yugito and Hari.

Taiko eventually conceded but not before saying, "I'll get you back when you least expect it."

Naruto was too excited at the prospect of fighting Kenji to really care. He doubted some amateur prankster could get to him. "Senpai, what are the rules?" Naruto asked Kenji.

"Let's stick to taijutsu on this one," Taiko suggest. "I don't really feel like flaunting my jutsu in front of our future opponents. Who knows, maybe they'll use the knowledge against us during the chūnin exam."

"My thoughts exactly," Yugito said with challenge, eyes locked with Taiko.

"Okay," Naruto nervously said, "Let's do this. I'll fight you first, Kenji-senpai."

Kenji nodded and led Naruto to a more spacious setting. "You ready?"

"I was born ready," Naruto replied.

Naruto's playful expression instantly snapped into seriousness, it was game time. Naruto charged the lanky genin and jumped at him with a knee intended to Kenji's face.

Kenji sidestepped it and attempt a backhand fist in Naruto's back, but the genin turned upside down and blocked it with his shin in a display of extraordinary reflexes and flexibility. Naruto rolled on his shoulder as he landed and attempted a vicious swipe kick to Kenji's leg. Kenji fell but not before raising a leg and viciously dropping his heel on Naruto's thigh. Naruto hand flipped back and felt the stinging pain but refused to nurse his leg. That was going to hurt in the morning.

Kenji advanced on him, throwing three jabs and a hook which Naruto blocked and returned with a uppercut that missed but he managed to redirect in his momentum and place a solid fist in Kenji's stomach, prompting the later to involuntary fall on his knee to catch his breath. Naruto grinned viciously and raised his leg, intent on smashing his foot on Kenji's head.

The Saito clan heir caught the foot with both arms and tried to kick Naruto's remaining foot from under him, but Naruto, once again displaying extraordinary finesse, jumped and used the motion to plant his foot in Kenji's chest, sending him flying six feet back. Naruto landed with a back flip in a crouch.

The jinchūriki took pleasure in demonstrating his high affinity for taijutsu. You didn't train hand-to-hand combat with Kirabi for six years and not come out a killing machine.

Kenji quickly got up and held his chest, wincing. The kid packed a hard punch and an even harder kick. The Saito charged at Naruto intent on bull tackling him against the tree, but Naruto copied his last opponent, Takezo, and bent his knees, took Kenji's right arm, taking a brunt of the tackle, and easily lifted him up into the air before he smashed him into the ground.

The crater wasn't nearly as deep as the one Takezo had done with but if was more than enough. Kenji raised his hand in surrender.

"I give," Kenji croaked.

Naruto offered Kenji and hand pulled him up. "Not bad," Naruto said, "You were a bit predictable, but not bad."

"Not bad?" Kenichi repeated with snicker, "He just got his ass kicked by a thirteen year old midg- I mean genin two years his junior," Kenichi quickly amended when he spotted the look Naruto shot him.

Yugito felt a slight tug of pride towards Naruto for beating the other team's leader. "Good job," Yugito said to him and turned to Hari. "Want to go next?"

Hari stopped staring at Kenichi and nodded. "Yeah, sure. Who am I fighting again?"

"Me," Taiko stepped forth with a predatorily expression, intent on making Hari pay for forgetting who he was facing.

Hari shook his head to clear his mind, "Okay, yeah sorry. Let's do this."

…

Hari and Taiko waited for Kenji's signal and attacked when he gave it.

Hari was hard pressed by Taiko's fierce advances - she was obviously the most taijutsu orientated fighter of their team. Hari side stepped a palm strike to the chest, stepped forward to lock his leg behind hers and lifted her up. As Hari lifted her up, Taiko proved that Uzumaki wasn't the only one quick on his feet. The taijutsu using genin swiftly reversed the grip before Hari could throw her, climbing over his tall body and landing behind him.

Quick on his feet, the Oi Nin hopeful jumped to his right, rolling on his shoulder as he did so, and held up his arm to block a high kick from his female opponent. Hari dodged the first two punches before getting nicked once in the cheek. In retaliation, Hari pulled in Taiko's arm and raised his knee however Taiko displayed how very flexible she was by supporting herself on Hari's knee and for the second time jumping behind him.

Hari tried and failed to block a straight punch to the face and sloppy raised his right shin for the kick he was about to receive. It proved to be a feint, as Taiko used her right leg to step forward to execute a sweep kick with her left leg against Hari's left leg.

Her opponent fell on his back and Taiko glared at him, "That was too easy."

"Hari, what the hell?" Naruto shouted at his teammate, not believing how easily he had been defeated.

Yugito let Naruto do the shouting, inwardly fuming with Hari's failure. The young kunoichi directed her ire at Kenichi who was clapping for his teammate as Taiko did a theatrical bow. Whatever it was that distracted Hari, it had to do with Tomaro Kenichi and he would pay for that.

"Alright, I'm next," Yugito said quickly stepping over to the designated fighting area.

Tomaro shot her a wink, "Go easy on me, hot stuff."

Yugito grinned uncharacteristically. "I will."

…

As soon as Kenji gave the sign, Yugito was on Tomaro in an instant, intent on humiliating him for embarrassing her team. Though Hari technically lost on his own, Tomaro was a part of that, or Yugito thought, and he would face her ire.

Yugito entertained herself briefly by picking her opponents defenses apart, throwing jabs at lightning speed and with uncanny precision.

Tomaro fell to his back as Yugito punched him in the stomach and kicked him in the shin. The genin spat blood and shot a grin at Yugito, "You seem to be very keen on getting me on my back!"

Yugito ignored his shameless flirting, fighting down the blush at what he was insinuating. It only fuelled her desire to pummel into the ground.

Kenichi front flipped on his feet and charged at Yugito, attempting to catch her off guard with his sudden offense. It didn't.

Yugito side stepped and kneed him viciously in the gut and slammed her left elbow in back before turning around demonstrating another flawless roundhouse kick the second time today.

Yugito walked over to her fallen adversary and forced him on front, locking his arms in a painful joint.

"I give!" Kenichi said quickly as he felt the searing pain. "I give!"

Yugito smiled, satisfied with her victory and turned around. Before she knew it, her legs were kicked from under her and Kenichi was on top of her.

"How about a little kiss for the winner?" Kenichi said, puckering up.

Yugito raised her eyebrow at him and simply shot up her knee causing Kenichi to scream like a girl as he rolled of her, holding his manhood.

Naruto nodded in approval, he was only a split second away from defending his teammate himself. "Yugito, I think that's enough."

Yugito kicked Kenichi one more last time and strolled back to her teammate who gave her back her sling.

Kenji looked at Kenichi and then back to his girlfriend before turning to team Kirabi. "You guys sure are something. Whose your sensei?" Kenji smiled good naturedly as Taiko walked over to her teammate and kicked him one more time for good measurement.

"Yotsuki Kirabi," Yugito replied.

"The Raikage's brother?" Kenji's eyes bulged. "No wonder you guys are so strong!"

Taiko and Kenichi seemed visibly impressed as well. Yugito was pleased to see how highly people thought of their sensei.

"Whose your sensei?" Hari asked Taiko.

Taiko looked at him briefly and answered, "Manako Runi."

Yugito piqued, "I believe Kirabi-sensei mentioned him once."

"Oh, yeah. He came up with that joke of, eh what was it again? Kirabi-sensei thought it was hilarious."

"An, Iwa nin, a Kiri nin and a Konoha nin walk into the bar…" Kenji revealed with an expression that said it was the worst joke he had ever heard.

"Yeah…" Naruto said, his face sour as he remembered the joke. "Anyway, we'd like to stay, but we've gotta go and report to our sensei," Naruto lied.

Yugito spotted where this was going from Naruto's glance at Hari and followed.

"We'll be here training tomorrow if you'd like to come by again," Kenji shouted after them with a wave, which only Naruto returned.

-ooo-

"Why did you lie to them?" Hari asked as he followed his teammates from the training ground.

Naruto turned around and glared at Hari, "What's wrong with you today? You think I didn't notice you looking at that Kenichi guy?"

Yugito had to give her blond teammate some credit for noticing. "He's right. Why did you get so distracted? We both know you could have won that fight."

Hari looked at his feet and didn't answer for a full minute. "It's complicated," Hari eventually managed.

"Then simplify it," Yugito told him.

Naruto nodded. "We're your teammates. If you can't trust us then you can't trust anyone."

"Look who's being the hypocrite," Hari shot back angrily. "You didn't tell me you two were _jinchūriki_ and we've been best friends since the academy, Naruto!"

"Yeah, well I think it's a bit different when you've got a blood thirsty demon inside of you! There's a difference between being scared of being embarrassed and scared your friends will hate you." Naruto's eyes were set in an angry stare at Hari. "Now tell us what's going on!"

Hari stepped back, visibly stunned by what Naruto had told him. The thirteen year old glanced at Yugito who nodded encouragingly and then at Naruto who still looked angry.

"Naruto, you're from Konoha, right?" Hari looked at his male companion. "Do you know anything about the Hyūga clan?"

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, they're the strongest clan in Konoha next to the Uchiha clan." Naruto vaguely remembered a cute girl in his class with indigo coloured hair and pale eyes. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"You ever heard of the attempted kidnapping of the Hyūga heiress?" Hari saw the confused looks in his teammates eyes before he saw Yugito began to piece the puzzle together.

"Hyūga Hinata," Naruto whispered, the name popping up his head. She was the only one from his class he could remember because she shared her bento with him once.

Hari nodded, "My father was the one who attempted to kidnap her six years ago."

The story that followed next was an huge surprise for Naruto. Hari told them everything.

"My father," Hari said it with visible disgust, "Was a Shinobigashira. He was sent to Konoha as a diplomat eight years ago for some peace treaty settlement. While he was there, he tried to kidnap the Hyūga heir. When he was caught, the Hyūga clan leader nearly killed him, though he was stopped by Konoha ANBU."

Naruto remembered now. He had heard rumours here and there about the incident where his classmate, Hinata, had been kidnapped. "I knew her!"

Hari continued, "They didn't want a war and agreed to turn him over to Kumo. That guy - Kenichi - his clan was the one that helped my father come back to Kumo. We didn't get the details, though. My mother told me they threw him into prison and we had the Tomaro clan to thank for his return. Not that she cared later on... Anyway, now you know my secret." Hari attempted to veil his discomfort with a smile. "Happy?"

"I will be when you stop smiling like you're fine," Naruto sighed. "Yugito, what do you think?" Naruto looked at Yugito for the answer.

The kunoichi shook her head, "We can't risk it. Naruto showing up is bound to turn some heads, but with the son of a Shinobigashira that nearly started a war between our villages..."

"Then find someone who can!" Hari shouted at them. "Don't let me hold you back. I won't forgive you if you do!"

"I don't think there will be a need for any of that," Naruto said, surprising them both. "If Hiruzen-jiji is anything like he used to be, he won't care. He was the only one that really cared about me when I was a kid. He always used say to me 'We shouldn't judge someone for the actions of another'." Naruto smiled sadly. "Back then, I didn't know what he meant, but now I'm sure he was talking about the Kyūbi."

His teammates looked him with curious looks. "This is the second time you've called him jiji," Yugito observed. "Were you close?"

Naruto nodded with absolute certainty. "He's not like most old people. He's cool."

"You're sure about this?" Hari asked, wanting to make sure it was absolutely safe for him to go to Konoha. "You're sure he won't object if I enter the exam as well?"

"I'm sure he is! Just relax, you're going to the chūnin exams!" Naruto clapped his best friend on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it."

"Now that I think about it," Yugito interjected, "They wouldn't have sent you a slip if you couldn't go."

"She's right," Naruto said with a grin. "Now, lighten up!"

It was an hour later that Hari had finally dropped all of his concerns that they had begun discussed discussing what their strategies were going to be for the Chūnin Exams. Yugito had more or less established leadership and decided on most things. Neither Hari or Naruto minded, though, as they were eager to hear her plans.

-ooo-

Naruto slid his key into the lock and turned it, opening the door to his and Kirabi's apartment. "I'm home!" Naruto called but there was no response. Kirabi was probably out drinking or whatever else it was he did with his free time.

With a content sigh Naruto fell on to the couch, having put down his bags of newly purchased items next to it. Naruto grabbed the remote and turned on the huge plasma television Kirabi had purchased with his share of the bounty. While he listened to a music station, Naruto picked up the _Sealing for Beginners _book and began to read, nodding every once in a while in understanding of several sealing concepts.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

And that was chapter twelve of Kumo Nin.

I bet nobody saw that one coming, huh? Hari's dad is the one who tried to kidnap Hinata. More on how Kumo affected Hinata's life (and Neji's*hint*) will covered during the chūnin exams. The Chūnin Exam will have to wait for another chapter at least. I still have to cover the training Team Kirabi goes through the next chapter, plus it would be lame if I skip three months of training in only one chapter.

Props to Marutectz for Team Manako. They are the equivalent of Team Gai for the Kumogakure genin and will be recurring roles for most of the chūnin exam. Also, who liked the idea of Naruto and seals? I wanted Naruto to be good with seals because it's been revealed in the manga the Uzumaki's had a high affinity for seals, plus it will fit in nicely with some other plot bunnies I've got in store for Kumo Nin.


	13. Preparations for the Chūnin Exam

**Kumogakure Ninja**

Posted: 24-09-10

Updated: 28-06-11

* * *

CH13: Preparations for the Chūnin Exams

* * *

It was two days later, twelve PM and Team Kirabi was at their usual training ground. They had been up and training from six in the morning, training with only a five minute breaks every two hours.

"Suiton! Suijinheki!"

"That's not good enough. It needs more mass, Seido."

"Suiton! Suijinheki!"

"Concentrate on the width as well as the height, Nii."

"Suiton! Suijinheki!"

"Uzumaki... that was pretty good. You may have an affinity for water," Darui nodded appreciatively, running his hand over the Water Encampment Wall. "Not bad at all." Darui stood on the large pond as the genin of Team Kirabi continued to go string of seals and execute the Suijinheki. "Okay, take five. That's it for ninjutsu today."

Naruto released his jutsu with a content sigh and followed his team to the tree where they had left their bags. Naruto dropped against the tree, opening his bag and fished out a bottle of water. "I love that jutsu," Naruto panted heavily with a broad smile. "You think I got a water affinity?"

Hari nodded taking of his blue kimono and dropping on the grass for as a makeshift blanket. "You might. It's not really my thing," Hari admitted. "Maybe it's because water is the opposite of fire, I've got a hard time with it."

"Foolishness," Yugito sat down next to Naruto. "If water is the opposite of fire, then earth is the opposite of wind. If that's true, then by your theory Naruto should have hard time with earth, which he doesn't judging from the new Doton jutsu he learned."

"Yeah, you're right," Hari conceded.

_"When did she start calling me Naruto again?"_ said shinobi thought. Naruto tried not to make it obvious, but Yugito's new choice of attire was _very _nice on her. He couldn't help but stare at her when she wasn't looking. Then again, he was a teenage boy and it was only normal for him to appreciate female bodies. And Yugito had become more tolerable lately. He wouldn't call her a friend but she was decent company.

"Speaking of ninjutsu, I need your help on that Shūrai jutsu of yours. I can't get it quite as strong as it should be."

"Some other time maybe. I'm low on chakra right now. I just want to get this day with."

Hari stretched his arms and groaned. "I'm definitely not going to be able to train tonight on my own. Katon jutsu take it out of me already."

"When are they going to teach us something other than ninjutsu?" Naruto couldn't believe it, but he was actually getting _a little _annoyed by coming home tired every day. It got in the way of his sealing training. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I want to learn something else."

Hari agreed, "Yeah, I'm dead tired when I get home. It gets in the way of learning new Katon jutsu when I'm on my own."

The genin continued to talk for a few minutes until Shi called them over. Grumbling Naruto got up, mumbling about 'slave drivers' as he got up and walked over to the jōnin.

"Shi-sensei, what are we going to be doing for the rest of the day?" Yugito asked respectfully. "We've been doing nothing but ninjutsu up till now." Perhaps it was her new found leadership that prompted her to voice her team's concerns.

"That's what this is about," Shi said with a nod. "I've been talking to your teacher and we've been discussing your individual talents."

"Talents?" Naruto repeated.

"Things you're particularly good at," Shi explained. "For example, Kirabi-senpai tells me you've got an uncanny understanding of seals. He'll be teaching you whatever he knows about Fūinjutsu whenever he can."

"What about me?"

"Hari, Kirabi-senpai mentioned you were beginning to read on healing jutsu."

Hari nodded, "That's right, but I didn't get very far with it. It's complicated stuff."

"I'll help you out. I'm a licensed field medic, so I can show you a thing or two," Shi then turned to Yugito. "Kirabi tells me you've pretty much gone along with everything he teaches. What is it you wish to gain a better understanding of?"

Yugito didn't have to think very long. Her brutal defeat at Otaku Shinji's hand still stung. "Genjutsu."

"Genjutsu?" Naruto turned to her with a surprised look. "That's a surprise."

Shi smiled at her. "Then I'll have to monitor you and Hari-san at the same time, Yugito-san. I have extensive knowledge on genjutsu."

Yugito nodded, "Thank you, Shi-sensei."

"Alright," Shi look at the team. "Naruto, you go home. Kirabi will be expecting you there. Yugito, Hari, you'll be with me."

Naruto made a hand seal and said, "Shunshin no Jutsu!" The blonde disappeared with a burst of smoke.

Hari shook his head, "He's been dying for an excuse to use that jutsu."

-ooo-

Naruto appeared right in front of their apartment with a grin. _"I rock,"_ the genin slid his key into the door and walked in.

Immediately he heard voices coming from Kirabi's bedroom. With a grin, Naruto took out a kunai, deciding to scare the shit out of Kirabi. As he got closer to the door, the voices became louder and he heard a woman scream.

_"What the hell is he doing in there?" _Naruto approached the door and turned the handle slightly pushing it. Naruto's eyes widened at the sound emanating from the room

"Oh, YES!"

"Oh, baby!"

"AAAAHH!" Naruto screamed and ran out of the room, forgetting to close it behind him. He had not seen that! He had not just seen THAT!

"Kirabi, who was that?"

Naruto ran to his bedroom and slammed the door shut. He had just seen more of Kirabi than he had ever wanted. Naruto rocked himself in the fetal position. "No way, no way, no way, no way!"

Was that the Raikage's secretary he had just seen in there? On top of Kirabi... naked... screaming... sweat running down her back-

"Ew!" Naruto couldn't just cut Kirabi out of the picture. "I'm going to be sick!"

Naruto could hear Kirabi laughing while his lover shouted at him for being insensitive and forgetting to lock the door.

"Naruto-kun, come on out," Naruto had never learned the secretary's name. "Naruto-kun? It's okay, we're not mad."

"I am!"

"Shut up, Kirabi!"

"Mabui-chan, let him be."

So that was here name, Mabui... Naruto shook his head. Well, he had seen more of her and Kirabi than he had ever wanted. No, wait, that wasn't true. He had seen more of Kirabi than he had ever wanted. Mabui was pretty hot – get your head straight, Uzumaki!

"Kirabi, I'm going to speak to him," Mabui's voice was full of concern; she was always nice to Naruto.

"Fine," Kirabi said uncaringly, "He's a big boy, though. Don't coddle him."

"Go fuck yourself." Naruto had never thought that Mabui was one to swear.

A soft knock came at his door. "Naruto-kun, are you alright?"

"I'm fine!" Naruto shouted, "Just fine."

"Naruto-kun, you're worrying us. Can I come in?"

Naruto sighed heavily. "Fine." Naruto got up and opened the door to let Mabui in. She was wearing her unusual pencil-stripe skirt and matching suit jacket and her feminine garment under it.

A half hour later Naruto regretted his decision more than anything. As if it wasn't bad enough he had Kirabi's naked mental picture permanently in his mind, Mabui had to go in great detail in talking about _the birds and the bees_.

"Okay, I get it!" Naruto suddenly said when Mabui went into greater detail of the female anatomy. "I'm fine. The shock's completely gone!"

Mabui smiled at him and pulled him into a hug, "I'm sorry you had to see that Naruto. We'll be more careful next time."

"Next time?" Naruto's voice came out at a higher pitch than usual. "There's going to be a next time?"

"Well," Mabui's dark skin visibly reddened, "Kirabi and I have been dating for a while now and this was the, uhm, first time."

"Which you ruined!" Kirabi decided to add from behind the door.

"Shut the fuck up, Kirabi!" Mabui shouted, a vein popping up by her temple. "Naruto-kun," Mabui turned to Naruto and tightened her embrace, "Are you okay?"

"I guess so," Naruto hated how much he was looking like a child now, but the motherly hug Mabui was giving him was warm and inviting. "Yeah," Naruto leaned into the hug. "I am. Just... lock the door next time?"

Mabui pecked him on the cheek. "Sure."

…

It was another hour when they had talked about Kirabi's and Mabui's relationship in the living room. Naruto learned more of the details than he ever wanted to but in the end he was happy for his teacher. Kirabi had practically raised Naruto and the more Naruto thought about it, the guiltier he felt for demanding most of Kirabi's time. Raising a six year old without any previous parenting must have been difficult for him.

Naruto felt relieved when they ended the conversation with another promise of locking the doors _next time _and Mabui left soon after. Kirabi then turned to Naruto and said it was time to teach him about seals.

"Okay, I know a whole about seals, yo but I'm not a seals master," Kirabi told him. "I had to learn seals from my old man when I was younger in case something happened to my seal. Fūinjutsu was practically the only thing my old man I did together," Kirabi smiled fondly at the memories.

Naruto knew Kirabi rarely brought up his father, who had died about eight years before he came to Kumogakure. Every year, Kirabi would take Naruto with him to visit the grave of the Sandaime Raikage, Yotsuki Makuden.

Kirabi quickly continued. "You seem to have some crazy affinity for seals, so hopefully I can teach you quickly. Cause you're getting in the way of 'pussy time'."

"That's disgusting!" Naruto shouted at him. "You sick, fucking, bald ass, ox loving, son-of-a-bitch bastard!"

Kirabi laughed and then shouted, "Wrong! It's Kirabi-sama! Now listen," Kirabi continued to give him a surprisingly detailed lecture on seals.

Fūinjutsu was all about calibration of numbers and seals to create a dimensional rift where items could be stored and withdrawn at a moment's notice. The art of sealing was very tedious and complicated. It required a mathematical and creative mind to grasp the fundamentals, and it demanded even greater dedication to precision and details to make create a seal.

"Most people see Fūinjutsu as simple push and pull, Fūin and Kai," Kirabi said, "That's bullshit. It's a good thing most people just buy pre-made sealing scrolls, otherwise they would have been pushed into dimensional rifts and lost forever."

Naruto nodded, beginning to understand. "Why is it that I could understand that one simple Fūinjutsu, sensei? I found this book at the shinobi shop the other day," Naruto held up the book and threw it to Kirabi who deftly caught it. "By the time we got to the restaurant, I managed to make a onetime only seal with _soy sauce _and a _napkin_. It stopped working after the first time, but that's probably cause of the flimsy foundation I used for the seal."

Kirabi read the book, "Yeah, I can see it's mentioned in the index page. It's not really hard to make, but you shouldn't have known how to do it. Not that quickly." Kirabi eyed his student curiously, "Maybe you've got a bloodline limit or perhaps you inherited the affinity to seals from your parents."

Naruto felt a warm feeling in his stomach. His parents? Could they be the reason why he felt so familiar with seals? "I- do you think it's possible, sensei?"

Kirabi scratched his goatee. "I'm not really sure. It could be anything. Maybe it's just a coincidence." Kirabi wasn't comfortable with getting Naruto's hopes up. He knew full well he was a substitute father for the boy and their bond was like that of any parent and child, but it was only natural for the boy to want to know who his parents were.

"So what are you going to teach me, sensei?" Naruto asked.

"We'll cover the basics first. I'll show you the importance of good equipment and I'll explain a bit more about dimension pockets. After that, we'll start doing some sealing techniques that might come in handy," Kirabi told him. "Eventually, we'll move on to advance sealing methods so you can learn to enforce your own seal whenever you need to."

Naruto grinned and said, "Sounds great!"

-ooo-

(Two Months Later)

Two month passed by quickly for Team Kirabi and they had grown much stronger. In eight weeks they had trained rigorously into exhaustion at the end of the day. They woke up at five, trained from six in the morning till six in the evening and were then told to go home to recuperate for the next day. However, resting was not what the genin of Team Kirabi did once they were at home.

Darui had taught the genin three Suiton jutsu, the Suijinheki, Mizurappa and Suirō techniques. Naruto literally absorbed these water techniques. When Darui gave Naruto another chakra slip, it was revealed Naruto did indeed have a water affinity as the paper cut in half before becoming moist. Though Yugito and Hari had some difficulties with it, they eventually managed to learn the jutsu and execute them to regular standards.

Naruto's obsession with seals grew immensely and he quickly learned seal after seal. Kirabi was both shocked and pleased with his student's insatiable hunger for learning more. Already Naruto had begun designing his own seals for small purposes, such as privacy seals that prevented sound from being emitted outside the perimeter. Aside from Darui's lessons, Naruto started to learn three more Suiton jutsu from the scrolls Yugito bought for him, the Mizu Bunshin, Mizu Sūiben and Mizu no Tatsumaki. Naruto had already learned to do the Mizu no Tasumaki, the Water Storm jutsu and had no noteworthy difficulties due to it having similar concepts of his Shippū Shūren. His Water Clone was still far from perfect but he was getting there. It was the Water Whip that proved to be difficult.

Aside from the water jutsu, Naruto had made some headway with the three Doton jutsu he had yet to learn. Naruto could perform the Dochū Eigyo without much difficulty, but it was the Doryūhek and Doryō Dango that proved to be difficult. Naruto's Fūton Dangan was coming along nicely. Naruto was able to spit out a baseball sized wind bullet that could dig itself ten inches into a tree. Naruto's Hōsenka had improved under the guidance of Hari but his Shuurai no Jutsu had yet to improve beyond a thin beam that barely dug an inch into a tree.

The blonde was also forced to buy a ninjato by Kirabi for kenjutsu lessons. Naruto didn't mind, though, as it was entertaining, despite the fact he wasn't anywhere near Yugito's or Hari's level with the blade as he had focused primarily on his ninjutsu and Fūinjutsu.

Hari had also improved by leaps and bounds. He learned three more Katon jutsu on his own, which he had yet to reveal to the group, claiming it was a surprise, and a handful of medical jutsu from Shi. Under Kirabi, Hari's skill with the blade flourished tremendously; he was even to soundly beat Yugito with the blade. His skill with senbon also increased dramatically as his knowledge of human anatomy grew.

When Yugito declared his ninjutsu wasn't diverse enough, Naruto promptly gave him the scroll on Mizu Sūiben as it was a jutsu used by actual Oi Nin and Dochū Eigyo. Yugito had then given him a scroll with instructions to the Raigan (Lightning Pistol).

Yugito had learned quite a lot too; having bought two jutsu scrolls of every element, save lightning, and she had diversified her ninjutsu. Yugito had bought her own copy of the Sūiben and a scroll on Suirō no Jutsu. Like Naruto, Yugito learned the Dochū Eigyo and Doryūheki from the element. Of the fire element, Yugito learned Hōenka and Hitama – which she suspected Hari had learned as well as he had_ subtly _offered to help her on it. As far as Fūton jutsu went, Yugito gave up after she had finally learned Daitoppa and she simply didn't have the patience for wind jutsu as it was simply too hard for her to learn. Yugito's major project had been her Banrai which Kirabi had personally helped her with whenever he was off a mission.

After her defeat at Shinji's hand, Yugito was determined to learn more about genjutsu. Yugito was now able to detect most low level genjutsu and even cast a few.

All in all, Team Kirabi had improved immensely in two months. The training they went through during the _Ritoru Haaku_ mission was nothing compared to what they had been doing in the last two months. Several days a week, their training would be cut short because either Kirabi or Darui and Shi would be called for another mission. During these times, the team would go and meet up with Team Manako, whom they had befriended.

The genin had met with their sensei, Manako Runi, and he was every bit as unnerving as they had heard. He was a nice guy with a horrible sense of humour, or rather lack of it. However, he was still very powerful and taught them a little kenjutsu while Kirabi was gone. Once he got past his inhibitions, Hari eventually managed to find himself in the company of Kenichi, with whom he quickly became friends with after they learned how much they had in common. Kenichi was not only a pervert like Hari was, but he also wanted to become an Oi Nin once he had the opportunity. Nakamura Taiko and Yugito became good friends when Taiko had surprised Yugito by offering her help with her genjutsu. Naturally, Kenji and Naruto hit it off as well due to their similar personalities and dreams.

Team Kirabi and Team Manako had become good allies in the two months they had known each other.

-ooo-

"Yo, Uzumaki!" Kenji greeted as Naruto and his teammates approached them. "Kirabi-sensei out of town again?"

"Yep. We thought we'd come by and see how you guys are doing," Naruto looked over at Taiko and smiled nervously, "Taiko-san-"

"Don't speak to me."

"Okay… So, how are you doing, Kenichi?" Naruto quickly turned to the ninjutsu specialist of Team Manako. He was always friendly.

Kenichi nodded in a acknowledging gesture, "I'm good, thanks. Yo, Seido, Yugito-hime." Kenichi had been hitting on Yugito ever since she beat him, claiming he was 'into strong chicks'.

"Ugh." Yugito's face pulled in disgust.

The genin talked were talking for a while, mostly about the Chūnin Exam and shinobi related topics such as ninjutsu.

"So, what's this Fūinjutsu I hear you've been developing?" Kenji asked. "I can't really see what sealing is good for in a fight other than withdrawing weapons."

Naruto shook his head and smiled at his ignorance. "Sealing is an art. It's very complicated but it's dead useful in a fight. And I'm not just talking about sealing and unsealing weapons," Naruto added.

"How about a demonstration then, Uzumaki?" Kenji stood up from his crossed legged seating.

Naruto followed suit and so did the rest of them. Not even his own team had seen his sealing jutsu. "Alright, Hari take my pouches," Naruto unstrapped his pouches and holster and passed them to Hari. Naruto then took off his weighted vest and threw it to Yugito, seeing as Hari's hands were full.

Ignoring his teammate's scowl, the blonde stood in front of his friends with his arms spread wide. "You see I've got no weapon on me, right?" The group of genin nodded so Naruto continued. "Okay, watch this." Naruto made a hand seal, reared his arm back and instantly shot of a kunai that lodged itself deeply into the tree they sat under for shade.

"Wow!" The look on Kenji's awe-stricken face was comical.

"How did you do that?" Taiko was visibly impressed, forgetting her current _feud _with Uzumaki.

"Yes," Yugito agreed, "How _did_ you do that?"

They all turned to Hari who was still holding Naruto's pouches. "Don't look at me, I'm just as surprised as you are!"

"So you didn't pass him one when you took his pouches?" Kenichi probed.

"Of course not!"

Naruto laughed uproariously. "Hari didn't pass me anything. It's my new Fūin!" Naruto rubbed his nose triumphantly. "Pretty cool, huh?"

Yugito raised her eyebrow, "I don't see any scrolls…"

Naruto held up his wrists for their inspection.

"Tattoos?" Kenji asked.

"Temporary tattoos," Naruto chuckled, "I designed this myself. They're for my new Fūinjutsu, Yadama Fūin."

"The kanji on the left is different, it's say shuriken," Kenichi observed. "So you throw kunai with your right and shuriken with your left?"

"That's right," Naruto confirmed. "It's fine though, I'm ambidextrous."

"Impressive," Kenji remarked. "But that's still sealing and unsealing, isn't it?" The lanky genin walked over to the kunai and yanked it out of the tree. "Wouldn't it be just as easy and faster to use a holster? I noticed you making a hand sign before throwing it. That would only take longer." Kenji threw the kunai to Naruto, who deftly caught it.

"Not really, since I can throw as many I want as long as I got them sealed."

"Don't forget they're hidden. They would be perfect for an assassination mission," Yugito added.

Kenji still didn't seem convinced with usefulness of seals. "If you say so," he said, crossing his arms. _"Let's see what else you've got, Uzumaki. I'll need every advantage I can get during the Chūnin Exam."_

"Alright, here's another Fūinjutsu I was working on," Naruto touched the tip of the kunai to his right wrist and sealed it. "Just watch." Naruto walked over to Hari and took his pouch of him and took out a standard green scroll.

Naruto distanced himself from the group and stood twenty feet away. "Throw something at me!" Naruto shouted at the group. "All of you!"

The genin looked at each other and shrugged as they reached for their kunai holsters.

"You sure about this, Naruto?" Hari shouted to his best friend. "This looks kinda dangerous."

"Just do it!" Naruto shouted.

Kenji looked at Yugito and then Hari before shrugging. "If that what's he wants."

The five genin stood next to each other and held a kunai in their hand. "Ready?" Kenji shouted, to which Naruto replied, "I was born ready, now throw!"

The genin simultaneously threw their throwing knives at the blonde. Naruto reached into his pouch and retrieved the green scroll again and as the projectiles came closer, he held out the scroll in front of him and shouted, "Akkai Genshuku!"

There was a loud tearing sound before the Crushing Gravity Palm shout of the scroll and knocked the kunai out of the way and forced the genin to jump out of the way as it created a crater where they stood.

"Nice!" Hari shouted. "You sealed your own jutsu inside of a scroll?"

Naruto nodded and allowed himself a satisfied smile. "It's the first time I tried it out, but it seems to be working."

Yugito punched him lightly in the head. "That's the first time you tried it out? How reckless are you? What would you have done if that didn't work?"

While Yugito berated Naruto and Hari sighed, Kenji and Taiko shot each other a knowing smile. "Okay, that's definitely useful," Kenji admitted. "You got any more of those?"

Naruto reached into his pouch and retrieved another green scroll and tossed it over to Kenji. "It's the same jutsu. It should come in handy when you're in a pinch."

Yugito wanted to berate Naruto for arming their soon-to-be enemies but decided against it. "We should be going. It's nearly noon and Darui-sensei is expecting us for training."

"Man, you guys are so lucky to have three sensei's that teach you stuff. We've only got one and he's barely around lately," Kenji complained.

"Life's a bitch," Naruto shot back before following his teammates. Darui and Shi were only helping because they owed Kirabi and they took personal interest in the team, but he didn't feel like divulging them into that little fact.

-ooo-

"You shouldn't have showed off your Fūinjutsu, Naruto," Yugito chided him. "Now they know what you're capable of and we've lost an edge. You definitely shouldn't have given him that scroll either."

"You make it sound like we're definitely going to face them," Naruto scowled. "They're our comrades. That scroll might save their lives."

"That's true," Hari agreed, "But you gave them an edge on us when you showed them what you can do. Yugito's right, Naruto. There's a reason why they haven't showed us any of their jutsu yet either."

Naruto shrugged. "We'll be fine. So, what did you think of my new Ninjutsu Fūshi Hōin ?"

"It's amazing. You've gotten really good with seals, Naruto," Hari complimented. "Maybe you could give me one of those ink tattoos you got on you as well?" Hari added hopefully.

"It's fine work, Uzumaki. You should be proud," Yugito said with approval. "It should prove useful. I'd like one of those temporary tattoos as well."

Naruto beamed with pride, "Sure thing. We're teammates after all." Naruto smiled at them, "We'll have to do it at my place though. Kirabi insists on keeping the sealing indoors."

"That's fine." Hai said to which Yugito nodded.

…

It was three hours later after a grueling session of ninjutsu training; Hari, Naruto and Yugito were in Kirabi's and Naruto's apartment.

"I haven't been here in ages," Hari said. "Where's your room again?"

"Down the hall, but it's too cramped. I'll have to draw the tattoos in here where it's spacious." Naruto left them in the living room, "I'll be right back."

Naruto walked down the hall, knocking on Kirabi's door but there was no reply. Naruto nodded and continued his way to his bedroom. Naruto opened his bedroom door and picked up his pots of ink, brushes and the designs for his Yadama Fūin (Projectile Seal) and placed them in a box.

Walking back to the living room, he saw his teammates had cleared the coffee tables and had turned on Kirabi's new TV. "You guys ready?" Yugito and Hari nodded, "Okay, good. Hari you go first."

"What do you need me to do?" Hari asked while Naruto placed the box on the table.

"Take of your shirt," Naruto answered. "Unless, you don't mind ink on your clothes. I'm not perfect at this."

Hari shrugged and instantly took of his kimono robe and white, loose fitting shirt and sat down by the table, stretching his arm over its wooden surface. Naruto swiftly went to work, reaching into the box and withdrawing a huge pot of ink, brushes, a saucer, disinfectant spray, cotton balls and most surprisingly nail polish and nail polish remover.

Yugito raised her eyebrow, making Naruto smile nervously. "It's for outlining the seal's structure. Once I'm sure I know what I'm doing, I'll take it off with this," Naruto held up the nail polish remover, "and then redo it with actual ink."

Yugito merely nodded, but was not completely satisfied with this procedure. Taking off her shirt in front of her teammates did not appeal to the young kunoichi. "I've got a sleeveless shirt. I won't have to take off anything."

Naruto shrugged, "I wasn't expecting you to." Naruto shook his head, not believing his teammate actually thought this was some clever ruse to see her topless. "Okay, Hari, I'm going to disinfect your skin first. Wash your hands and dry them off." Naruto instructed.

Hari got up and went to the kitchen, the sound of water pouring followed a moment later.

"What did Kirabi-sensei tell you about your sudden... understanding of seals?" Yugito asked her teammate as she sat down on the couch, raising her right leg over her left knee.

Naruto blushed, looking the other way. That damn skirt had to go. "Kirabi, uh, told me it might be something genetic like inherited affinities or just a coincidence." Naruto turned back to his set up, Not wanting to give away what he had tried to look at.

"Okay, all done." Hari walked back into the room and held up his forearms for Naruto's inspection. "Good enough?

Naruto nodded and motioned him for a cushion, "Have a seat and stretch out your arm like you did before." Hari did as he was told while Naruto picked up a cotton ball and the bottle of disinfectant before sitting down next to him. "This will sting a little," Naruto dabbed the cotton ball in disinfectant and began to rub it over Hari's forearms.

It was a minute or two later when he was finished and declared Hari's forearms clean 'for the first time ever.' Naruto then went on to pick up the bottle of black nail polish and sketches he had in the box and placed them on the table. Yugito stared intently as Naruto dabbed the nail polish and began to draw faint lines over Hari's forearm. "Those lines stretch all the way to his forearms," Yugito observed. "Yours are much smaller."

"Just watch," Naruto replied, not taking his eyes of the task at hand. Naruto was very meticulous when it came to seals. After five more minutes of intently drawing something that resembled a tribal tattoo on Hari's arms, Naruto nodded and reached for the bottle of nail polish remover and another cotton ball. Naruto rubbed out the still-wet nail polish and told Hari to wash his arms again.

"Again?"

"Any material that isn't supposed to be on your arm has to go. You're lucky I'm not telling you to shave your skin," Naruto reached over for the disinfectant.

It was fifteen minutes of silence later when Hari held up his right arm with a smile, "Is it finished?"

"Not yet, put it down," Naruto forced his hands down and made a hand sign. "Yadama Fūin!" The long lines of ink began to swirl over Hari's arm, tingling hotly as they did so, and eventually formed into another kanji for 'Kunai.'

"Kunai?" Hari asked, "I can throw kunai with my right?"

Naruto nodded and confirmed, "That's right. Kunai with your right and shuriken with your left. That's how you usually use them in a fight, isn't?"

"Alright!" Hari exclaimed and then turned to Naruto, asking, "How do I summon them?"

"Well, you don't have any kunai sealed in that one yet. Hold on," Naruto stood up, reaching for Hari's pouch and took out three kunai knives. "To seal them, you have to touch a part of the kunai to the seal and then seal it," Naruto explained. "I'll teach you the sealing jutsu later. Let's finish the shuriken seal first."

A half hour of meticulous work later and Naruto said, "Yadama Fūin!" The tribal tattoo glowed hotly before turning into a kanji under Hari's left wrist that read, 'Shuriken.'

"Okay, now look carefully and how I do this," Naruto instructed. It was fifteen minutes later when Hari was able to do the most basic sealing and unsealing jutsu.

It was simple jutsu. One had to simply channel their chakra into the seal and either say, 'Kai!' or 'Fūin!' to make it work.

"This is amazing," Hari smiled as he sealed a kunai, threw it in the air and sealed it when it landed in his hand.

"Don't forget to keep wearing the holsters, though," Naruto told him, "Don't reveal the Yadam Fūin unless you have to."

Yugito agreed, "Yes, that's indeed a good idea." The kunoichi sat in Hari's seat while the Oi Nin hopeful stood up and started to play with the seals. "I want an additional one, Naruto." Yugito fought hard to hide her blush. "On the small of my back, to hide my wakizashi."

Naruto was visibly surprised by what Yugito suggest. "What?" He eventually managed with a light blush on his face. "On your back? Yugito that's really close to your-"

"I know!" Yugito had a light blush of her own. "Can you do it or not?"

Naruto gulped, "I don't know, it's different on your back. There are more muscles and they're usually rigid and Kirabi-sensei said- look, it's just going to be uncomfortable for the both of us." Naruto was being surprisingly calm. Then again, this wasn't some random girl he would have to see naked, this was Yugito and he'd practically known her his whole life.

"As if I don't know that," Yugito grumbled. "Okay, fine. Just give me the seals on my wrists for now and then tell me later whether you can make it work for the wakizashi."

Naruto nodded and said, "Go wash up."

Yugito stood up and walked passed Hari who had just returned with a tray of orange juice. "What's up with her? She looks kinda pissed."

"She's not pissed," Naruto corrected. "She wants me to draw a seal on her back."

Hari's eyes bulged, "And you said no?"

"She'll have to be naked, idiot. The seal is for a freaking sword. I'll have to draw it all over her back and maybe down south."

"You should have said yes!" Hari hissed under his breath.

"You fucking perv," Naruto shook his head. "She's our teammate."

"Frigid bastard."

"Asshole."

As they continued to throw verbally attack each other, Yugito entered the room.

"What is this?" Yugito shook her head. "Can we just do it?"

Hari looked at Naruto and mouthed, "Do it!" with a thumbs up. "I've, uh, got to go. It's late and I should, yeah- bye." Hari had his shirt and kimono back on in a flash and left the apartment with a Shunshin.

"What's with him?" Yugito asked, looking at her remaining teammate.

_"Okay, Naruto, you're a big boy. Just tell her." _Naruto gulped and looked at Yugito. "You know the seal you wanted for your sword?"

"Yes?" Yugito raised another eyebrow, "You said no, remember?"

"Well, I didn't say no because of the sake of being a dick to you. _Okay, maybe wrong choice of words in this situation,_" Naruto added mentally. "It's because seals placed on the body need a lot of space."

"Where is this going, Uzumaki?" Yugito was back to last names. She always got like this when the situation either got strange or went the wrong way.

"If you want it on your back, you'll have to be naked," Naruto blurted out.

"What?" Yugito hissed at him. "I have to be naked?"

"I told you, they need a lot more space."

"How much more?"

"If I put it on your back- do I have to go into details?" Naruto asked.

"No, I see where this is going." Yugito thankfully didn't need an explanation. "Just give me the tattoos on my wrists." Yugito made a mental note to kill Hari next time she saw him.

Naruto nodded out his hand, "Give me your hand." Yugito did as he said and he noted how soft and feminine her hands felt. "I'll rub in the disinfectant."

Yugito's arm tingled. Naruto's hands were rough, as though he was a blacksmith. Yugito noticed how gentle he was being with her, carefully rubbing in the disinfectant and not letting his hands roam any further than her forearm.

"Yugito, you're tensing up," Naruto told her. "Relax, your muscles have to be completely relaxed for this."

Yugito took a deep breath, not knowing _why_ she was tensing up, but she attempted to relax her arm. It didn't work.

Naruto completely took her by surprise and began massaging her forearm. "Don't get any ideas," Naruto was surprisingly calm. Probably because they weren't discussing how she had to be naked.

"I won't," Yugito shot back. "So, what if I wanted the seal on my shoulder or collar bone?" Yugito really did want that seal. Naruto's eyes bulged, his hands clenching her forearm tightly. It took Yugito all her will power not to let out a content moan. "What are you doing?"

"No," Naruto said. "You really don't want me to put it there."

"Why not?"

"Er, because I, uh," Naruto kicked himself for being so uncomfortable on this subject. He was thirteen for crying out loud! He's seen a lot naked chicks in his academy days – hell he had seen Emiko naked and she had let him touch her boobs. That was nice. They were soft and... Snap out of it, Uzumaki! "I can't do that."

Yugito sighed exasperatedly. "Naked again?"

"No, topless," Naruto corrected. "Unless you want to show me the twins I don't-"

"'The twins'? You really are a pervert, aren't you?" Yugito accused with her blush intensifying. Suddenly, she felt very self conscious about the size of her bust. "Taiko was right about you."

"If I was a pervert, then you'd be naked by now."

"Excuse me?"

"I mean for the seal, of course."

Yugito eyed her teammate and shook her head, letting him take her arm and continue his massage. It was a minute later when Yugito said, "I think it's relaxed now." She wasn't very comfortable with being touched by others, let alone massaged by a boy her age.

Naruto nodded and laid her forearm on a cushion, a luxury he had not provided for Hari. Grabbing the bottle of nail polish, Naruto began to draw the seals on Yugito's forearm. "Kunai on the right and shuriken on the left?"

"Yes," Yugito's arm tingled as the thin brush swirled over her arm. "When did you get so good at this?"

"What, nail polish?"

"Yes. I don't think I could even I could use it the way you do." Then again, Yugito never did use makeup. She was all natural and liked it that way.

Naruto looked a little embarrassed. "I could use eye liner if you want, but those would leave behind traces of oil and it might mess with the seal's integrity."

"Integrity?" Yugito repeated. Since when did Naruto use words like 'integrity'? "I know what it means," Yugito cut him off when he opened his mouth to explain. "I just didn't expect you to use that word, let alone know what it means."

"You know, I'm not as dumb as people think I am," Naruto sounded a little offended. "I might not use big words all the time or do things that make me look smart, but I'm not an idiot."

"You're right, I apologize," Yugito offered.

"It's fine. Just don't think I'm an idiot."

"Since when do you care what I think?" Yugito asked.

Naruto looked up from his work and into her eyes, "Since we're teammates."

Yugito's arm tensed again and she knew it. Damn it, why did she care when he looked into her eyes and said something like that? Yugito silently prayed Naruto didn't make a connection with his statement and her touching up.

"Jeez, you nearly ruined the seal. You need to relax," Naruto got up and went to kitchen. "I'll make some tea."

Yugito sighed heavily. _"Why am I feeling this way?"_ Yugito thought back to a conversation that took place over two months ago, _"Was Emiko right? Is there something between us?"_

Naruto returned with a tray with two cups of tea and placed them on the coffee table. "You keep tensing up when I touch you." Naruto stated, completely obvious to how it may have sounded like to Yugito. "Drink some tea and try to relax."

Yugito scowled and took the cup of tea with her free hand. "I'm not used to this," she told him and took a sip.

"I'm not surprised," Naruto told her, taking a sip of his own tea.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Yugito demanded with hostility. Was he judging her?"

"You always kept to yourself so it's not a big surprise you're not used to being touched and massaged. Hell, you're not even used to seeing boys shirtless- though I doubt many girls your age are. I saw you getting red when Hari took his shirt off." That was definitely uncharacteristically perceptive of Naruto.

"Mind your own business, Uzumaki," Yugito inwardly fumed.

Naruto sighed and nodded. "I didn't mean anything by it, Yugito."

Naruto continued do draw the seal with the nail polish and then eventually said, "Go and wash up again."

Yugito placed her tea on the tray and went to the kitchen to wash her hands. Upon returning to the living room, the sat down next to Naruto again. As Naruto took her right arm and began to massage it, Yugito said, "Children are cruel."

"What?" Naruto looked up and met her eyes. They seemed to be recalling a painful memory.

"At the academy, I kept to myself because the girls were jealous of me," Yugito clarified. "I didn't choose to become this, I just did and I'm comfortable with it. Don't judge me as if you would know anything about that."

"Yugito, you're forgetting something," Naruto told her, looking back to her arm and continuing to massage the tensed up limb. "I wasn't much liked either in Konoha. I mean the kids hated me and the feeling you get from being so alone... it's not something you forget. Ever."

Yugito nodded, knowing how insensitive it was what she just said. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I'm past all that now."

"You're not angry anymore?"

"Don't get me wrong, I don't like the place, but I'm not losing any sleep over it either. I've moved on from the hate and anger." Naruto looked up at smiled at her, "I've been living here for the last six years and I'm happy."

Yugito felt her cheeks become warm. Naruto's smile was that of intense happiness and his eyes were twinkling mischievously. Yugito sighed, "Sensei was right about you."

"Hmm?" Naruto felt her arm finally relax and picked up the ink brush. "And what did he say about me?" Naruto asked as he brushed the kanji for 'Kunai' on her right wrist.

"You're different from me. You enjoy life to the fullest." Yugito looked at him intently, "I'm a little jealous of you."

Naruto chuckled softly; it gave Yugito a warm feeling in her stomach. "Yugito, living the way I do isn't hard," the blond told her. "Just smile and think of the good times. Life's an adventure."

"Since when did you get philosophical?" Yugito asked him, curious with the level of maturity he was showing. It wasn't really like the Naruto she _thought _she knew.

"Want some piece of advice?" Naruto looked at her.

"Sure."

"Move forward."

Yugito looked confused. 'Move forward', what was that supposed to mean?

Naruto actually laughed. "Don't think about the past and don't live in regret of things you wish you could've done differently."

It was a simple piece of advice but with an ocean of meaning behind it. Yugito _had _been living in regret. She _had_ been wallowing in the past and now she _wanted_ to move forward. "How?" Yugito asked.

"Find people you love and want to protect with everything you've got." Naruto's smile was warm. "For me, it's Kumo. I love it with everything I got and I want to protect it with my life."

"That's why you want to be Raikage so badly..." Yugito smiled softly.

"Who do you want to protect?" Naruto asked her.

"I don't know. I've got no one-"

"You've got me," Naruto told her immediately, causing her to blush furiously. "And you've got Kirabi and Hari and you've got everyone in this village to love and protect."

Yugito looked the other way, trying to hide her blush. Whether it was because Naruto knew she was blushing, or something else, Naruto continued to work on her seal.

Yugito eventually looked back at Naruto and felt warm in her stomach. She was viewing the young shinobi differently than before and she liked it. It was as if he was different man- no, it was as she was now a different person.

That was the night Yugito learned the biggest lesson of her life. She had begun to let go of the past and look to the future. The lesson Naruto had taught her, changed Yugito's life for the better.

-ooo-

(Two Weeks Later)

It was time for the Kumogakure genin to leave for the Chūnin Exams in Konohagakure.

The genin of Team Kirabi had trained rigorously to hone their skills and perfect their jutsu. However those were not the only changes; Yugito and Naruto had finally, after six years of knowing each other, become friends. After that night two weeks ago, Yugito had changed for the better. She had become more friendly and outgoing towards her teammates. Team Kirabi had become a close-knit group. Not only were they comrades, they were friends.

On the morning they were leaving for the Chūnin Exams, Uzumaki Naruto woke up early. It was eight in the morning, but he couldn't sleep. He was too excited at the prospect of leaving their island country and travel to Konoha.

Naruto stepped out of the shower clad in only a towel around his midriff and drying his hair with another towel. The genin quickly changed into his official shinobi attire. Though they were allowed to wear their own clothes, genin of Kumogakure were expected to wear this particular garb when they represented their village. It was actually mandatory for missions, but they had gotten away with it. Kirabi wasn't up to date with the mandates back then but he had insisted they wear the official garb for the Chūnin exam.

The uniform consisted of black shinobi trousers (or skirts for kunoichi), a shirt with the colour and sleeve length of your own choosing, black shinobi sandals or boots and finally the genin could choose either a robe, flak jacket or any other body protector of his or her own choosing. The standard Kumogakure, white metal shin guards and black arm guards were mandatory as well as a sword. Kumogakure's academy teachers had often emphasized why it was important Kumo shinobi carried a blade at all times. It was to keep up their reputation for swordsmanship.

Naruto put on his full body suit that hugged his body snugly, a pair of black, ANBU styled pants, a dark blue, long-sleeved shirt and his black flak jacket that had many pockets, making it perfect for storing sealing scrolls. Naruto slipped into his black shinobi sandals and traditional, white metal shin guards and black arm guards worn by Kumogakure shinobi. The young shinobi attached his ninjato scabbard to his back and then continued to wrap his slightly exposed ankles with white bandage. Naruto's kunai holster was on his right thigh, as usual, and his shuriken holster was on his left. The genin had two large pouches attached on belt that covered his rear and wore his headband proudly on his forehead.

"Kirabi?" Naruto shouted. There was no reply. Grumbling, Naruto walked over to his teacher's room and knocked. Still no reply. "Damn it."

Naruto walked to the kitchen and immediately spotted a note written in Kirabi's messy handwriting.

_Naruto,_

_I'm sorry for not waking you and telling you myself but I got pulled away on a S rank assignment last minute. I can't tell you actually what it is, but it's going to be a while before I'm back. With any luck, I'll manage to see you during third stage of the exam._

_While I'm gone on a mission, Shi and Darui will be replacing me. They've taught you a shit load, so I expect you to treat them with respect._

_Please tell Mabui I won't be back for a while._

_Work hard and make me proud._

_Kirabi_

"Fucking bullshit!" Naruto ripped the letter up. "Can't fucking believe this is happening."

Naruto stomped into his room and grabbed his bag. As he threw in scrolls that contained his other items, Naruto fumed. He was so fucking pissed off he didn't know what to feel; angry at Kirabi or murderous at the Raikage.

Once he had all of items collected, Naruto exited the apartment, firmly locking it and dropping the keys in his pocket.

"Shunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke.

-ooo-

"Naruto?" Mabui stood in the door way, wearing nothing but a night gown that reached to her thighs. Had Naruto not been angry, he might have been delighted with the amount of leg she was showing.

"Kirabi's going to be out of town for a couple of weeks."

Mabui's face fell, "Oh. Is that why you're here?"

"He wrote me a letter." Naruto's replies were short sentenced but he was too angry to give a damn right now. "Bastard couldn't be arsed to write you a letter, I guess."

Mabui smiled softly, "Don't be angry at Kirabi, Naruto-kun. I'm sure he didn't want to miss it for the world."

"Yeah, right." Naruto turned around and was about to leave when Mabui firmly grabbed his wrist.

"You know, he always talks about you when we're together," Mabui told him. "He might not say it himself, but he sees you as his own son. I don't think he would have gone if he didn't absolutely have to."

Naruto's expression visibly softened. "Thanks, Mabui."

"You go and make us both proud, Naruto-kun."

Naruto nodded and made a hand sign, "I will."

-ooo-

Naruto appeared at the training ground a few minutes later. To his surprise Hari and Yugito were already there.

Yugito held up her letter**. **"He got called away." Yugito stood in similar attire as did Hari.

Yugito wore black, ANBU styled pants with black boots, white metal shin guards and black arm guards. Yugito wore a violet, short-sleeved shirt that stopped slightly above her bellybutton, revealing her impressive abs. Yugito's headband now served as a belt and her hitai-ate.

"That's fucking bullshit," Hari said with venom. "Why did he have to be called on a mission now?"

Hari's attire matched that of Naruto, only his shirt was plain white and he wore body armour that was similar to Hunter Nin with protective pads on his shoulder. The genin wore his headband on his forehead as usual and he had the same headbands on as most.

Naruto nodded and said, "I know. But he didn't have a choice either. Let's make him proud." Mabui's words had meant a lot to Naruto. He wanted to make the man that took him in and raised him as his own son proud. "I know he wouldn't have missed this for the world."

* * *

**Any other questions? PM or Review!**


	14. Team Kirabi Embarks

**Kumogakure Ninja**

Posted: 02-03-11

Updated: 28-06-11

* * *

CH14: Team Kirabi Embarks

* * *

(Kumogakure Docks)

Team Kirabi stood on a platform by the Kumogakure docks on the foot of the mountain the village was build on, ready to board the ship that would take them to Hi no Kuni , the land where Naruto originally hailed from and where the Village Hidden Amongst the Leaves was settled. Naruto clenched and unclenched his fist in both barely contained excitement and anxiousness. How would it go, he wondered. Would people still recognize him or would they have forgotten him? Though he furiously wished the exams weren't in Konohagakure, a part of him didn't mind at all. Naruto supposed it was his need for closure. To let the ignorant bastards of Konoha know he had moved on and found a place where he belonged. Where he was accepted and cared for. Naruto took a deep breath.

"What's taking so long?"

Yugito turned to look at him, "We've got to register ourselves first. Darui-sensei and Shi-sensei are taking care of that." Yugito looked back in front of her, eying the other genin teams that stood spread across the platform. Yugito frowned.

"You look worried," Hari observed, "What is it?" The young shinobi followed Yugito's line of sight and nodded. "Competition seems pretty tough."

Naruto looked over the five teams spread across the platform and recognized a few. The first was obviously Team Manako: they had grown particularly fond of their seniors over the past months of training. They had been tactful enough not to show any of their techniques yet, due to the fact they would have to face each other during the tournament. From what Naruto had gathered, Kenji was the kenjutsu specialist of the team, Taiko was somewhat proficient with the sword and had some genjutsu talent. Kenichi was definitely the enigma of the team. One day he would be a mediocre swordsman, the other he would be using taijutsu exclusively.

Naruto's eyes drifted to the far right of the platform. Standing close together was Team Nadara, an unusual team consisting of all three sisters; Shira, Tira and Lyra. The girls were roughly three years older than Team Kirabi and were beautiful, exhibiting exotic beauty with pale skin, pearlescent white hair and ruby eyes. Their luscious physique and their tight, revealing kimono made them appear rather desirable.

Save to say Naruto's thoughts on the all girls team were impure.

Hari nudged Naruto and pointed to a group of genin standing by themselves. "There's the guy Kenji was talking about, Ryūsa Hideaki. Kenichi told me they've had a rivalry practically since birth." by themselves.

Ryūsa was a tall teenager with a muscular build, dark calculative eyes and black spiky, gravity-defying hair. He wore black shinobi garb with a sleeveless flak jacket and carried two ninja-to in an cross on his back. Ryūsa's most prominent feature was the vicious scar that ran across his face. Ryūsa.

Naruto looked at both teenagers and frowned, "Rivals, huh? Hideaki looks like he wants to kill Kenji." Naruto noticed the glaring match he had with Kenji across the platform. picked up something else, "Look at his teammates. They're like statues."

Flanking Ryūsa's sides were two teenagers roughly the same age. The female was petite and had pale skin and hough Naruto could not say she was unattractive, she carried a sense of lifelessness that seemed to diminish her beauty. The male teammate was a freakishly tall and muscular teenager who could have passed for an adult. On his back, the adolescent carried a huge, cleaver-like sword, three times the width of Naruto's arm. Naruto got a strange feeling from looking at the brawny genin. He seemed just as lifeless as the female, but something else was just _off_ about him.

"They look dangerous," Yugito stated, it more or less stating the obvious but neither of her teammates cared to comment on that. "We should be on our guard around them at all times."

Naruto nodded and looked across the platform. There were two teams from his years present, team Hitaro and team Kodama.

Team Hitaro consisted of two boys and one girl: Nobori, Tokashiji and Miyabi. Nobori was a lanky teenager with a light tan, shoulder length, spiky brown hair and gray eyes and a an perpetual provocative smile and carried a butterfly sword on the small of his back. Tokashiji was a shorter than average with silk-like black hair and brilliant green eyes. Despite his short stature, Tokashiji was known for his viciousness in taijutsu and skill with fire based ninjutsu. Miyabi was a pretty brunette with soft, creamy skin and green eyes. Miyabi was very much developed for her age and was somewhat skilled with a tantō.

"I just noticed something," Hari looked at his teammates, tearing his eyes from his former fling, "Only people from our graduation year actually put on the uniform."

Yugito shrugged it off. "They'll probably change on the way to Konoha. It's gonna be a seven day journey after all."

Naruto grinned broadly with barely contained excitement, "I can't wait till we can leave!" Naruto looked over the dock and sighed in relief as he saw the group of jōnin teachers drawing nearer as they followed a tall figure.

"That must be the Shinobigashira, Gekkō Genryūsei," Yugito identified the newcomer. "Apparently he's a jōnin veteran who served for twenty years. He's very powerful according to Kirabi-sensei."

And Gekkō Genryūsei indeed seemed to be powerful, standing tall at 6'6 tall, with a lean build and vicious scars over his face, calculating eyes and mop of brown spiky hair. Genryūsei wore the typical jōnin gear, aside from the blood-red flak jacket assigned only to Shinobigashira exclusively.

Naruto noticed how Genryūsei's appearance drew suspicion from his fellow genin; the man's reputation obviously proceeded him if he could get a noticeable rise out of a group of genin who normally would not be knowledgeable enough to know the names of Kumo's more notable jōnin.

"He looks strong." Naruto felt the urge to voice his thoughts. "I mean, we're standing at least twenty feet from him and I can practically _feel _his strength," Naruto almost shivered, "It's incredible." Naruto remember how he could feel Kirabi's presence similar to all those year ago- though that had faded over time due to their constant close proximity.

Yugito observed her teammate for a brief second and nodded, "I know what you mean."

"I know him from somewhere," Hari told his teammates.

"Gekkō-sensei?" Yugito asked intrigued.

Hari opened his mouth but quickly closed it as the jōnin rejoined their students and Gekkō coughed to call their attention.

"Welcome," Genryūsei's voice radiated with authority, "My name is Gekkō Genryūsei. I am the Shinobigashira in charge of this convoy to Konohagakure no Sato where you will all participate in the Chūnin Exams." Genryūsei shot them all a friendly smile. "Let's all get along and do our best to represent Kumogakure with pride and dignity."

The genin shared looks whilst their jōnin sensei remained impassive and continued to pay attention to their superior, although they probably had been briefed on the journey weeks ago.

"I would now like to take the time to further explain what we are doing," Genryūsei looked over the group once and then continued. "The convoy shall consist of eighteen genin, you, your six jōnin sensei as well as my own group, consisting of five additional jōnin and eight chūnin. Of course the vessel comes with its own fully staffed personnel, of which I will be taking control for the duration of the arriving in our designated harbour city, we shall go to Konoha by foot. This part of the journey will take little over a week." The Shinobigashira paused for a moment, allowing the stream of information sink in before he continued.

"In Konoha, we will be staying in one of the luxury hotels. Because you have the natural disadvantage of having to travel for so long and far, I have made sure the ship we have been assigned by Kaminari no Kuni's Navy comes fully equipped with its own training areas though I do advise to limit the usage of ninjutsu. We have scheduled our arrival roughly a week before the Chūnin Exams commence and this should be plenty of time to get used to the environment, collect intel on your potential enemies and hone your skills."

Naruto's eyebrows furrowed as he absent-mindedly clenched his fist tightly whilst Gekkō Genryūsei continued his long speech.

-ooo-

(Onboard the Todō)

Nearly an hour later, the convoy had boarded the Todō. The boat, or freighter rather, was enormous. It came with a fully staffed crew, two-hundred-and-thirty-six to be precise, six large training areas, a fully equipped gym, libraries, mess hall- practically everything they would need was available for their usage aboard the Todō.

Ten minutes after being shown the mess hall and their quarters, Naruto wandered the long, shallow halls with his teammates to explore the freighter further. Every so often they would see one of Kaminar's Navy officers who would not even look at them as they briskly walked past them.

"They don't seem to like us that much," Naruto frowned at another Navy personnel who walked past them with an irritable expression. "What's their problem?"

Hari shrugged indifferently. "Who knows?" The brown haired genin looked to Yugito who usually would know the answer to everything.

"They're Kaminari no Kuni's Navy. It's only natural from them to dislike us," Yugito told them. "The other military branches often despise us."

"Why's that?" Naruto asked her, not quite understanding why it would be 'natural' for military branches despising them when they served the same country.

"Who knows? Perhaps they are frustrated they cannot manipulate chakra. Perhaps they know what we are capable of and it scares them?" Yugito offered with a shrug. "I do not care either way. The Navy has practically become redundant in these times of peace."

"Such shinobi arrogance."

Team Kirabi turned around to see a teenage girl, roughly three, maybe four years older than them. The newcomer was about 5'8, had green eyes and long, wavy brown hair which she wore up in a ponytail. She wore the standard white Navy officer uniform that did her otherwise stunning figure no justice.

"Excuse me?" Yugito locked eyes with the girl as she turned around. "Who are you?"

"Oh forgive me for my rudeness," the brunette said with dripping sarcasm. "I'm petty officer Aosa Kurione, and whom might you three snot-nosed brats be?" Kurione folded her arms and leaned against the wall.

"Nii Yugito."

"Seido Hari."

"Uzumaki Naruto."

Kurione glanced at the three genin, her eyes clearing sizing them up as if she were about to get in a fist fight with them. "Tche!" Kurione turned on her heel and walked down the corridor. "Don't let any of the more experienced personnel hear you. They won't be as kind to ignore it as I am."

"What's up with her?" Hari asked his teammates, unaware of Naruto's stupid gaze.

"Who knows and I don't feel like finding out- Naruto what are you looking at?" Yugito glared at her teammate, quickly noticing he was appreciating the petty officer's backside. "Pervert."

Hari quickly looked over his shoulder, but unfortunately the young petty officer had already turned around the corner and disappeared. Yugito shot Naruto a look that was mixture of a glare and disgust before she sighed and continued to walk down the long halls of the Todō.

…

After ten minutes of exploring Hari looked at his teammates, "We can finish exploring later. I want to get unpacked before all the good bunks are taken. Besides, I want to see if we can pick up anything interesting from our fellow genin." Hari grinned mischievously.

"And there's Miyabi..." Naruto added.

"And Miyabi," Hari repeated, not bothering with denying it. "Let's go."

Yugito sighed audibly and followed her teammates down the hall, "Perverts."

"Why do always say that, 'perverts'?" Hari asked playfully. "I mean, it's not like we drool over every girl we see."

"Forget it."

"No, come on!" Naruto encouraged, matching Hari's grin.

"Can we just drop it?" Yugito knew where this was going. Her teammates had gotten a new hobby lately: pestering her about her love life- or lack thereof, as Naruto had put it. "Did you hear that?"

"Oh, come on. Don't change the subject," Hari said with a laugh.

"No, I hear it too," Naruto suddenly said. "Sounds like Kenji... it's coming from down there."

"What, now you guys have super hearing or something?" Hari was still thoroughly confused with the powers that came along with being a jinchūriki. Sure, he understood the more obvious attributes such as incredibly large chakra reserve and enhanced physique but sometimes his teammates would share knowing looks. It was as they see something he couldn't. "Wait, did you say Kenji?"

"Yeah, it sounds like he's shouting..." Naruto started to quicken his pace as he half-ran and half-walked to source. As the voices started to get louder, Naruto ran faster, leaving his teammates behind him.

…

Sure enough, a minute later they stumbled upon an interesting scene. Team Minako was standing opposite Ryūsa Hideaki and his teammates. The tension in the air was obvious and from the looks of it, a fight could break out any second now Naruto noted.

"Hey, Kenji!" Naruto shouted, hoping to distract the two parties from each other. "What are you doing- oh, am I interrupting something?"

Kenji turned to Naruto and shot him a tense smile. "No, of course not," Kenji looked back to Ryūsa. "We were just talking."

"What's this, more trash, Saito?" Ryūsa spat. The heir to the Ryūsa clan did not even look at Naruto, rather choosing to continue glaring at Kenji. "How unsurprising of you to associate yourself with these bottom feeders."

"Hey, what was that?" Naruto's hand shot for his ninja-to, he didn't take that kind of talk from anyone and he sure as hell wasn't going to start now. "Who're you calling trash, limp dick?"

No sooner had the tip of his fingers touched his hilt, had the female to Ryūsa's right appeared in front of him, with her own blade drown, aimed for Naruto's neck, separated only by Kenji who moved in the blink of an eye to appear in front of Naruto, bodily defending him with his arm in front of Naruto to protect him from the drawn blade.

Kenichi and Taiko appeared next to Kenji and faced Ryūsa's female teammate with intense glares.

"Back off, bitch," Taiko growled, her hand gripped the hilt of her sheathed blade. "Or I'll chop your fucking head off."

The silent giant to Ryūsa's right went for his massive blade, but Ryūsa held up his hand. "That's enough. Don't bother with these filth." Ryūsa turned his head to the door when Yugito and Hari appeared and sneered. "How many cockroaches do you plan to associate yourself with, Saito? It's pitiful."

Naruto growled and disappeared with a Shunshin too fast for Kenji or his would be assailant to stop and appeared in front of Ryūsa, shooting forward his right fist and intent on delivering a solid punch to Ryūsa. Naruto's fist thumped against the thick blade that appeared in front of Ryūsa's face, blocking Naruto's attack. The enormous genin was faster than anyone anticipated.

Naruto clenched his fist, forming a Shippū Shūren around his arm, but Kenji intervened before he could execute it and grabbed Naruto by the collar and threw him back towards Kenichi, who caught Naruto bodily grip, locking the younger genin's arms.

"That's enough, Naruto!" Kenji raised his voice, and then turned to Ryūsa. "Get out of here, _Hideaki._"

Ryūsa merely sneered mockingly, scoffing as he turned on his heels and left with his silent bodyguards following without a word. "See you around, weakling."

Naruto frowned, seeing Kenji glaring daggers in Ryūsa's back. "What's that guy's problem-"

Yugito gave Naruto a dirty look and planted her fist in his skull.

"Ouch! What the fuc-!"

"You idiot," Yugito said furiously. "We haven't been on this ship for longer than ten minutes and you're already picking a fight?"

"Technically it's been over thirty-" Naruto wisely chose not to finish that sentence. By the look Yugito was giving him, he decided it was best to leave the cheeky comments for later. "Alright, I'm sorry?"

Yugito sighed exasperatedly, "We can't let you out of our sight for a second can we?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm real sorry," Naruto's tone was unrepentant and he waved off her rant. Then turning to Kenji he asked, "What the hell did he want?"

"Nothing. Just forget about it." Kenji unclenched his fists, seemingly regaining control of his temper. "We should go back to our part of the ship."

Naruto shrugged and followed his fellow genin. "What a dick."

-ooo-

(Hours Later)

It was night time when Naruto woke up after further uneventful day that had consisted mostly of unpacking and getting tours off the ship. It was about three in the morning, the dark blue and purple hue of the night was lit by the stars over the vast ocean. Scratching his chin as he groggily left his cabin, Naruto stalked down the hall in his sleepy wake Naruto headed to bathrooms for a drink of water.

Naruto had always liked ships, though he rarely had made us of them and had never before been a battle ship, he enjoyed the idea of literally sailing through life. Naruto cupped his hands under the water tap and splashed his face. 'Guess I could get some early training in. The training areas should be void now,' Naruto thought as he exited the bathroom and went back to his cabin to retrieve his gear. It was sad to say, but the genin were all wary of each other and didn't like to show their techniques as they prepared for the Chūnin Exams, as they didn't want to give up the element of surprise or allow their jutsu to be analyzed and have a counter ready for them. Everyone here was a potential enemy and they all knew it. Naruto didn't care much for secrecy but had promised his teammates he wouldn't show off his skills.

A few minutes later Naruto arrived at the mid-section of the Todō. The cargo hold that was once here had been remodeled into a training area. It came with a fully equipped gym and other facilities for them to make use of. Naruto realized how fortunate they were. Had he been unable to train, he would have been at a disadvantage and he knew this without a doubt. Naruto shouldered his duffel bag as he turned around the corner and opened the massive double doors to the training hall. To his dismay, the hall was already occupied by the three girls from Team Nadare.

'Guess I can forget about training in peace.' Naruto looked at the three girls sparring viciously, unaware of his presence. Deciding he wouldn't get any worthwhile training in now, Naruto turned on his heels and was about to leave when he heard a voice call him.

"Who goes there?" It was Shira that called, the oldest of three girls if Naruto remembered correctly.

Naruto held up a hand, "Don't mind me, I was just leaving."

"A moment, if you will."

Naruto turned to face the girls, not bothering to hide his annoyance. "What is it?"

"You're that Uzumaki fellow, aren't you?" Shira called to him. "Kirabi-sama's student, correct?"

"That shorty's the great Kirabi-sama's student?" said Lyra, the youngest of the three. "No way."

Naruto callously flipped her off. Girl or no girl, he wasn't going take that from anyone. "Look, you're obviously busy and you were here first, so I'll just go."

"You fear we'll try and analyze your techniques? How pathetic," Shira said with disdain, a scowl gracing her otherwise beautiful features. Shira raised a hand, elegantly brushing her silky white hair behind her ears, "I would've expected the student of Kirabi-sama not be such a coward."

Naruto scoffed. "And that's why you're training in the middle of the night? You're just as reluctant to give away your techniques as I am, so what business do you have ridiculing me?" Naruto began to turn on his heels again, "See ya."

"Wait."

"Fuck me, what now?" Naruto didn't even bother turning around now.

"How about a friendly spar, Uzumaki-san?" Shira proposed. "If you win, we'll leave and you can have this area all for yourself. If I win... hmm, I'll have to think about what I want."

The competitive side in Naruto was too strong. "Alright, sounds reasonable. What are the rules?"

"No rules. Everything is permitted, including lethal moves." Whether it was on purpose or not, Naruto didn't know but Shira's blood red eyes glowed eerily as she said it.

"You're on," Naruto said without hesitation. 'She must be screwing with me. As if she actually will throw in any lethal attacks.' Naruto walked over to Shira as her sisters moved away to watch. "Don't think I'll go easy on you just cause you're a woman." Naruto grinned cockily.

Shira let out a small, condescending laugh. "Oh, please. Save it for someone who actually cares for your macho bravado."

'Bitch.'Naruto took his stance. "Whenever you're ready, sweet cheeks." Throwing in a sexist jab was so not below him.

"Oh, I'm ready." Shira's eyes seemed to intensify with that last remark.

Naruto reached for his ninja-to, figuring his mediocre swordsmanship would have to do in a spar, rather than having to go serious on the girl. He had barely touched the hilt when he had to side step a crossbow bolt narrowly streaking past his face. Naruto launched himself back with a chakra enhanced jump and swiftly cut up the following bolts Shira shot at him with her pitstol-esque crossbow. Naruto back flipped once to avoid three more arrows and side stepped to dodge another barrage. 'How is she shooting those things so fast?'

As this went through his mind, Naruto noticed the glove Shira wore was glowing with every burst of bolts she sent at him. 'I see... clever girl. 'Naruto had to give it to her, that was quite ingenious. The glove was rigid with a seal that stored arrows for her to fire without the need of a quiver. Sealing artists referred to these types of seals as 'pocket seals'. Pocket seals were pretty basic in most cases, but involved a lot of calibration and precise calculations to create an dimensional pocket to store items. Shira had managed to fit one in her glove, quite a feat for most seal creating novices. Additionally, the way she configured it saved her time of having to attach the arrows to the miniature crossbow. "Not a bad seal indeed." Naruto waited for her to fire another barrage of arrows and then begun his counter attack and performed a short distance Shunshin to appear next to her with his blade poised to impale.

"A Shunshin on such a close distance?" Shira was now on the defense as she was forced to let go of the crossbow, which was cut in half. "Not bad, Uzumaki!" Shira jumped a few feet in the air, performing and elegant back-flip and landed in a crouch. "But your completely wrong if you think that's all I can do."

Naruto flashed her a confident smile, "Bring it." Naruto raised his blade, taking on a defensive stance Hari taught him for mid range attackers.

Shira came at him with her wakizashi unsheathed resulting in stalemate Naruto broke clash to avoid a bolt of iron that ricocheted off his blade as his opponent pulled out another handgun-sized crossbow. Naruto dashed to his left, batting away another two bolts before resuming his guarding stance. 'Where did that come from?'

"Not bad, Uzumaki, but I've just started!" Shira showed him a beautiful smile and leveled her crossbow at him. 'This one is mine! Issen Sashijō!' The seal etched on the one-handed crossbow began to glow white for a brief moment before metal projectiles began to pour out at a rapidly increasing rate_._

_(Jutsu: Issen Sashijō – One Thousand Crossbow Bolts!)_

Hard pressed, Naruto began to back up as he manoeuvred his blade left and right to deflect the incoming crossbow bolts. 'Shit!' Naruto spun on his heel, collecting what little wind he could to wrap himself up in a weak Daitoppa that blew the incoming projectiles off course. Naruto held up his blade with his left hand and aimed his other directly at Shira. "Akkai Genshuku!" The burst of wind disarmed his opponent of her _fun-sized _crossbow, leaving her wide open for Naruto to Shunshin behind her to rest the blade to her neck.

"Don't move," Shira said calmly to her sisters who had moved to intervene. Her smile was a mixture of pleasant surprise and being impressed as she conceded. "You win, Uzumaki."

Naruto lifted his blade and sheathed it. "Guess you're happy you got to see my jutsu, aren't you?"

"Mhm," Shira made a distinctly giggle-like sound. "Don't get too cocky, Uzumaki. I was holding back throughout the fight. Had I not, you would've been at my feet."

"Whatever," Naruto opted not to goad her. "I win this one, so scram."

"Of course." Shira turned to her sisters and merely nodded, then turned around and made her way out of the training hall with her teammates in tow. "See you, Uzumaki-kun."

Naruto frowned, staring at her back. "Yeah, sure." There was something _off_ with this genin, something _very_ off. Naruto couldn't help but suddenly grin. 'First that Ryūsa guy and his teammates, and now these three. Everyone entering this tournament seems to strong.' Naruto chuckled with genuine mirth. 'Looks like this exam isn't going to be a cake walk. There'll be dozens of different shinobi, all with their own strengths and weaknesses... And despite the enormous pressure I can't help but be excited.'

"Can you feel it too?" Naruto asked out loud, turning to see his teammates stand behind him with apprehensive expressions. Over the months they had spent together, they had familiarized themselves with each other and their chakra signatures, Naruto didn't need to be a sensory-type ninja to tell they were close.

"Yeah," Hari said with an grin of his own. "The pressure is unreal."

"We cannot allow ourselves to underestimate anyone. That fight was reckless, Naruto, but now we at least have a clearer picture of what we're up against." Yugito crossed her arms. "I doubt she showed even a tenth of what she's really capable of, but neither have you. This… this exam will be interesting to say the least."

"Yeah," Naruto said with a nod, "And I gotta tell you, I haven't been this excited ever."

* * *

**_Author's Notes_**

Apologies for the wait, but I've been busy with college - specifically exams. I'm settled into college now, so I'll be able to get back to the writing. A forewarning: quite a few OC's are introduced this chapter and I apologise in advance if that confuses you.

A special shout out to ICB-RAIDEN for his Team Nadare's appearance! I will try my best to ensure all of the characters I approve show up at some point in the story and though originally planned their appear in the Chūnin Exam arc this does not necessarily have to be the case. There **will** be other, _new_ and original arcs that will take place after the Chūnin Exams arc. See y'all in a few and don't forget to **review!**

**Jutsu Used:**

_(Jutsu: Issen Sashijō - Thousand Bolts!) - C rank, offensive, short to mid range. This jutsu is used by Shira to send a large amount of bolts which she fires off with her crossbow at her opponents. Not much is known about this jutsu other that it relies solely on a tiny seal scribed into the crossbow._


	15. The Long Awaited Return

**Kumogakure Ninja**

Posted: 06-03-11

Updated: 28-06-11

* * *

CH15: The Long Awaited Return

* * *

_"This is your Captain, Captain Matsudo, all shinobi passengers report to the deck. We are within two miles from the harbor city of Shitai no Minato. I repeat, all shinobi passengers report to the deck. We are within two miles from the harbor city of Shitai no Minato."_

Yugito looked up to the speaker and turned to her teammates who met her eye and nodded. Naruto lifted himself off of his bench, taking a last spoonful of his meal and followed his teammates. "We've arrived already, huh? About time." Placing his hands behind his head he followed his team through the narrow hallways of the Todo to the staircases. "I can't wait to feel the dirt under my feet. This ship sucks."

"Yeah," Hari concurred. "We should make the most of the time till the exams start. We've been cooped up in here for so long, we've gotten rusty." Hari turned to his best friend. "This city, Shitai no Minato, what's it like?"

Naruto shrugged, "I dunno. I didn't exactly go where I pleased when I was a kid, Hari. Kirabi and I took a different way out. We caught a few ferries to Kumo, not a huge freighter like this one."

"This city is apparently one of Hi no Kuni's (Fire Country's) most profitable and prosperous harbors. Shi-sensei told me it's one of the biggest harbors in the world and it's a major source of income for Hi no Kuni. It apparently generates roughly six percent of their annual income by itself." Yugito could always be counted on to know the finer details.

Naruto whistled. "I'm surprised they let us enter through this port in a battleship."

"Must be a show of faith," Hari chipped in. "So, you guys think we're going to have to fight anyone from our village? It sounds harsh, but I kinda hope they get taken out by other teams."

"I know what you mean," Naruto told him, reassuringly placing a hand on his shoulder. "But I'm not gonna hesitate one bit. That would shame them as much as myself."

"Uzumaki is right. If anything, whoever we face, whether they're one of ours or not, they deserve to be taken seriously. There's no such thing as pulling punches in an event like this, Hari. Remember that."

"Yes, ma'am!" Hari said with a cheeky grin, joining Naruto in a military salute. The pair had come to refer to Yugito as 'captain' or 'ma'am' purely because it annoyed her to no end.

"Indeed, Kohai (Underling)," Yugito smirked like a cat, placing her hands on her hips as they headed to the staircases.

"Kohai? Kohai?" Hari repeated in a feigned, over dramatically shock. "That's Kohai-sama!"

The team laughed it off while they climbed the stairs and walked onto the deck, joining the five other genin teams and Jonin present and stood by Darui and Shi.

"Good, everyone is here." Genryūsei stood before the contingent of Kumogakure shinobi as the Shinobigashira was the man in charge. "We are approximately one-point-six miles away from Konoha. Upon arrival, we will descend from the battleship Todo in an organized fashion, befitting of Kumo representatives." Genryūsei looked around briefly and nodded. "That's right. We are representatives of our great shinobi village. You are expected to act as such at all times."

Naruto looked around for team Minako and found them two rows in front of him. Naruto's nose twitched in disgust, spotting Ryūsa eying the team with contempt. A hand on his shoulder from Yugito made him turn back and listen to the speech, all the while unknowing of Shira's hate-ridden glare at his back.

-ooo-

Shitai no Minato truly was a beautiful city filled with tall buildings, and streets decorated by fine ornaments and fountains spread across the city and beautiful parks beyond the market districts that were packed by people from all over the world. Unfortunately for them, there was no time to go sight-seeing. Genryūsei quickly had them move on to the city outskirts a mere three hours after leaving the _Todo_. It was regrettable, but a part of Naruto was glad to be on the move. It felt good to walk on dirt, pass the beautiful countryside, and see the clouds during the day and the stars at night and rest under the trees, all the while enjoying fresh air. The convoy traveled quickly and efficiently, taking regular breaks and never staying longer than planned. Genryūsei was very punctual in regards to arriving at Konoha as scheduled by the council in Kumogakure.

On the way Naruto read as much as he could to make time pass by quicker. The Chūnin Exam was happening and if there was another seal out there, another piece of information he could use, he would find it. Many failed their first attempt at the Chūnin Exam, but Naruto was determined not be one of them. Ranks and prestige did not interest him but he kept in mind how proud this would make Kumogakure, and more specifically, Kirabi.

'Wherever that bastard is, I hope he's doing alright,' Naruto thought as he followed the rest of the convoy, Yugito and Hari by his side.

-ooo-

(Undisclosed Location)

_Kirabi,_

_The camp of rogue shinobi we discussed two weeks ago are believed to be connected to that organization. Our spies have sent in reports indicating they're setting up a stronghold in Tsuchi no Kuni (Earth Country). We currently have no information as to why they have stopped mobilizing and are setting up this particular stronghold, but we've had reports of notorious arms dealers from Ame are involved in shipping artillery to the ring leaders of the encampment. These shrapnel cannons are high tech and extremely dangerous. You are to destroy these cannons and eliminate and/or detain the rogue shinobi and the contractors they brought in to build the strongholds._

_I know your team is participating in the exam and I know how much you wanted to be there, but I simply do not trust the council and the incompetent fools they suggested to lead this assault. I have made sure Squad 8, my personal ANBU squad, will accompany you. Contact the leader, code name Fukurō at the west gate. He and his squad will help you in taking down the camp. Be careful, little brother, there may be worse enemies than A ranked shinobi amongst the rogues. Try not to overdo it with your tenant._

_Yotsuki Raiden_

_Yondaime Raikage of Kumogakure no Sato_

Kirabi crumpled the letter and set it on fire fight a spark of lightning in his hand. The letter burned a shade of orange of a shade similar to the setting sun as he Kirabi looked down into the valley below. Within the valley was a camp with dozens of tents set up. Kirabi was unseen from his position by the shinobi on guard and the contractors who were working on the stronghold and moving shrapnel cannons on large carts.

"So what's the plan?" A figure appeared behind Kirabi with a rustle of leaves.

Kirabi turned to the ANBU officer beside him. "What plan?"

"Kirabi-sama, these are A-ranked shinobi we're talking about. They're vast in number and they're only underlings of _that_ organization." The ANBU officer looked perturbed. "Don't you think we should have a plan for this assault?"

Kirabi shrugged. "These guys are chump change. They're not worth rattling my brains over." Kirabi flashed a toothily grin that looked rather devilish. "Tell you want, Birdie-san, you go ahead and gather the troops and make a plan, I'll be having fun in the meanwhile."

"But Kirabi-sama-!" Kirabi already disappeared, jumping out into the valley where the enemy forces were settled. "Fuck! Squad, we're moving out! Aid Kirabi-sama!" The ANBU officer held up a fist to signal his men and followed Kirabi, his squad on his heels as they descended what must have been sixty feet into the canyon, sliding down swiftly.

Kirabi landed with roaring laughter, shattering the earth below him as he landed between the bewildered shinobi. "You fuck ups made me miss out on a very special event. Y'all gonna pay!" Kirabi smacked the lightning bolt aimed for his face aside as thought it were a fly and reared back his arm, changing it into one of the Hachibi's limbs and lunged at his enemies, smashing and killing one with pure force as he drove him into a wall of earth erected by another rogue shinobi. By now his ANBU reinforcements had landed close by and launched attacks of their own.

"I'm so vexed I could kill anyone today and luckily for me, there are enough targets!" Kirabi changed his arm back to normal and reached for two of his seven blades and charged them up with lightning. "Who wants to go first?"

"Fuck, it's Kirabi! Retreat!" One of the rogue shinobi said as he signaled his allies to leave. Kirabi quickly burst forward, severing the man's right arm before turning to the rest of the shinobi that had started to leave. "None of you leave today. In fact, not one of you will live on after today."

The battle ensued.

-ooo-

Naruto stopped in his tracks a split second before the rest of the convoy stopped. Phasing upwards out of the grounds and appear out of the woods, several ANBU officers appeared as silent sentinels as they stepped forward to meet the convoy.

"Halt and state your business, Kumo."

"Good nose, Uzumaki," Genryūsei said as he turned to Naruto and smiled before looking in front of him to meet the ANBU and pulling out an intricately decorated scroll with the seal of the Raikage and Daimyō of Kaminari no Kuni (Lightning Country). "I am Geko Genryūsei, Shinobigashira of Kumogakure no Sato. In my charge are the six genin teams and their sensei, as well as support staff delegates. We are to be welcomed in Konohagakure no Sato for the duration of the Chūnin Exam." Geko Genryūsei spoke with the grace and composure of that of a nobleman.

"Geko Genryūsei-dono, I am ANBU captain Yamaneko. Please hand over your document for authentication." The ANBU captain stepped forward with one hand outstretched for the document. Upon retrieving the document from Genryūsei he eyed the document and turned to show it to his lieutenant who nodded a moment later. Yamaneko stepped aside and his men followed suit. "You are clear to pass, please move without delay."

"Why do you think he showed the document to his partner? Can't he see himself?" One of the genin remarked under his breath. Naruto remembered him as a graduate from his own year and member of team Kodama, Hasegawa Madao.

"That was a Hyūga," Naruto answered walking past team Kodama. "They've got a legendary Dōjutsu called the Byakūgan. It's got all kinds of special powers. Just ask your sensei."

"Thank you, Uzumaki-senpai," said Zenzou Gokudera, Hasegawa's teammate.

"Tche, stop calling him senpai, it's embarrassing," piqued the female member of team Kodama, Shimura Ayame.

Naruto turned to her with a sneer, "I actually quite like being called senpai, Shimura. Maybe you should learn to respect your superiors too."

"A wise ass as ever, huh, Uzumaki?" Ayame sneered, equally dismayed. "You always thought you were something special, didn't you?"

"That's 'cause I am special, tomboy," Naruto shot back. Ayame and himself had always been at odds since childhood.

"Can we please stop this arguing?" Gokudera interjected rather timidly. "I thought you two stopped fighting after we graduated."

"Back off, Uzumaki, who asked you anyway?" Hasegawa gritted his teeth. "Just fuck off before I cut you up to ribbons."

"With your pathetic excuse for swordsmanship, I'm surprised you haven't cut up yourself or your own team by now." Hari interjected, coming to his best friend's defense.

"Enough."

Naruto turned to the source of the voice to find Saito Kenji look at him with a stern expression. "Knock it off. You're embarrassing Kumo."

"Saito-senpai, he started it." Ayame said indignantly, fighting down a blush at the same time.

"That's not important. What's important is that you guys hold it in till the exam actually starts. Feel free to take each other out then."

While this happened, Geko Genryūsei chuckled and turned to one of his jōnin staff members. "That Saito kid sure is a born leader."

The convoy paced the landscape for another forty minutes before they arrived at the main entrance of the Hidden Leave village. It was another twenty minutes before they were all checked in and added to the list of entrees. Konoha was still much the same as it had been when he left Naruto noted. The streets were still as wide and dirt covered as he could remember and the buildings were still the same and the people- everything was almost exactly like he left it. Before his brain registered it, they had arrived at their accommodations and they had been given their keys and identification passes.

"So, anywhere you two want to go?" Yugito asked swirling the room keys on her index finger as she eyed Naruto.

Hari shrugged and then eyed Naruto. "How about you show us around, Naruto? You remember most of it, don't you?"

"Yeah, sure, but I'm off to meet Jiji after I drop you guys off back here." Naruto unattached his belt and dropped it and the weapons attached to it on his bed next to his backpack and pouches.

-ooo-

Team Kirabi walked down the market district, following Naruto as they walked through the crowds, occasionally catching shocked glances and whispers. 'Guess this hasn't changed either. I'm surprised they still recognise me.'Naruto looked from his left to right to meet the stares.

"What's with the staring?" Hari asked, only to be met with silence from his _jinchūriki_ teammates. "Ahuh," Hari nodded, catching on. 'So this is what he had to deal with as a kid…?'

"Let's get something to eat. There's this awesome place I used to eat at every day. They were the one of the few people that actually liked me." Naruto smiled nostalgically with an underlining sadness his teammates picked up on instantly. "Let's go."

"You're paying!" Hari said with a boisterous laugh, attempting to raise Naruto's mood. "Race you there!"

"Wha- wait!" Naruto ran after his teammate, "You don't even know where it is, dumb ass!"

"Hey, wait!" Yugito called after them but they were already off, leaving genin to sigh exasperatedly. "Such fools," she said before she ran after them.

…

Hari ran past the crowds with Naruto hot on his heels and laughed loudly. "Where's this place?"

"Follow me!" Naruto shouted as he overtook Hari in their footrace and took to the rooftops to the audible shock of the villagers. "Come on, slowpokes!"

They ran over the rooftops for a minute before descending back into the crowds and ran into the quieter section of town where Naruto tripped over something and fell face first into the ground. "Ouch!"

"You okay?" Yugito asked as she stopped in her tracks next to Hari who was roaring with laughter. Yugito frowned, sensing a presence and turned to her right to see a child attempting and horribly failing at concealing his presence in a cardboard box. "Why did you do that?"

"Muahaha!" The cardboard box flew into the air as a nine year old child appeared laughing triumphantly. "I totally had you!"

"You little brat, who are you?" Naruto demanded standing up nursing his head. "I'm gonna teach you some manners."

"Sarutobi Konohamaru, the future Godaime Hokage!" Konohamaru continued his boisterous laughter. "What's the matter, you wouldn't think of hitting the grandson of the great Ho-OUCH!"

Naruto had shot forward, raising his fist and bumped it on Konohamaru's head sending him face first into the ground. Clapping the dust of his hands Naruto scoffed. "I don't care if you're the grandson of Bhudda, you're gonna regret that kiddo!"

"Oh snap, Konohamaru Squad retreat!" Konohamaru jumped to his feet and turned and ran down the road with Naruto on his heels.

"..." Yugito face-palmed.

Hari shrugged and turned to Yugito. "What's the Konohamaru Squad? And did he just say 'Sarutobi'?"

…

"Come here!" Naruto shouted at the brat as he chased him down the roads.

Konohamaru squealed in both terror and amusement. "I'm sorry, Nii-chan!" The boy turned into another street and ran at full speed with his eyes closed as fast as his legs could carry him before he ran into something solid.

_Thud!_

…

"Where did they go?" Yugito walked beside Hari. "That fool's going to get us in trouble."

Hari turned right, "There they ar- hey!" Hari's hand shot for his ninja-to instantaneously as they walked into a rather suspicious scene.

Konohamaru was being hoisted up by a teenager wearing a black, full body suit with some machine strapped to his back with white medical bands. To the boy's right stood a stunning teenage girl wearing a purple outfit and carrying a giant fan.

"Let the kid go," Naruto ordered while he glared at the teenage boy holding up Konohamaru. "I said let him go."

"Look what you're getting us into, Kankurō. Now we've got two midgets to deal with." said the beauty as she shifted her battle fan's weight.

"Shut up, Temari, this kid's gonna get it."

Naruto looked over his shoulder at Hari and Yugito who both nodded and snapped into action; Yugito reached for her blade while Hari made a hand seal and his eyes narrowed. "We've got company."

"What?" Naruto didn't take his eyes of the pair of Sunagakure shinobi. "You sure?"

"Definitely. You can come out!"

A red haired boy with teal, raccoon-like eyes and dressed in black shinobi garb appeared between the two teenagers, sand swirling around him into the giant gourd he carried on his back. "Who are you?" The boy spoke with a raspy voice.

"Uzumaki Naruto. How you doin'? Now, let go of that kid or we're gonna have to take action." Naruto eyed the team in front of him and noticed they were all wearing the Sunagakure headband.

"Kankurō, let him go. We're leaving," said the red haired boy. What was intriguing was the fact the newcomer stood at a small stature but ordered his teammates with a cold voice, not even eying them.

"Ga- Gaara..." Kankurō dropped the kid on the floor and stepped back. "Alright, let's go then."

Naruto waited for the team to leave before he turned to the boy, Konohamaru who got on his feet. "You okay?"

"Yeah, thanks," Konohamaru brushed off his shirt and stood up, apologizing as he ran a hand through his hair nervously. "Thanks for the help Nii-chan."

"It's all good, just stay out of trouble." Naruto turned to Yugito, briefly exchanging knowing looks. Putting up a smile Naruto spread out his arms and placed them on his head. "Let's go. I'm starving."

Konohamaru grabbed on to Naruto's jacket. "Wait, where are you going? Do you wanna play Ninja?"

"I am a ninja," Naruto patted Konohamaru on his head. "But sure, I'll play with you later, when I've got the time that is. I'm here for the Chūnin Exam, so I need to train hard."

"Woah, you're going to be in the exam this year?" Konohamaru said with amazement. "What village are you from? That headband has clouds on it – are you from Kumogakare, Nii-chan?"

"I sure am. The name's Naruto," Naruto smiled pleasantly; he had always been good with kids. "Uzumaki Naruto."

"What? YOU'RE Uzumaki Naruto?"

Team Kirabi looked at each other. "Huh?"

-ooo-

(Undisclosed Location)

Smoke pillars carried out into the sky under the setting sun. The area that once held beauty and a naturally favorable position for a stronghold now resembled a wasteland with the burning tents, shattered boulders and torn down trees and shattered earth. Kirabi sat down on a make-shift bench he had made from a fallen tree and looked up to the sky. "Looks like we're done here."

"Not quite, Kirabi-sama," Fukurō corrected him with a respectful bow of the head. "We have yet to interrogate the detainees in regards to their connection to _Akatsuki._"

Kirabi waved him off grumbling. "I'm not into that shit, yo! Y'all can do that yourselves, can't you?" Kirabi uncorked his flask and took a tug of water and exhaled contently. "You don't need me for that shit."

"With respect, Kirabi-sama, this organization is allegedly after _jinchūriki_ such as yourself, Yugito-san and Naruto-kun. You would do well to get as much information as possible, I daresay."

"This is the second stronghold we've taken out. None of the others we caught squealed cause of those motherfucking seals they had. We're not going to get any information of these guys either. No matter many how many strongholds we take down, _Akatsuki_ will always have taken precautions."

Fukurō sighed audibly and removed his crow mask with a soft _click._ "You're in a hurry to get back to your team, aren't you?"

"That's right, Motoi. I ain't see no point in hiding it."

Motoi sighed but allowed him a small chuckle. "In the twenty years I've know you, you haven't changed at all, Kirabi. I envy your simplistic views."

"Yup!" Kirabi answered jovially, tossing his flask to Motoi.

Motoi caught the flask and took and swing. "So this team of yours is something special, huh? Two _jinchūriki_ and Seido's kid."

"Yeah," Kirabi said with a tone akin to pride. "Yugito's growing up so fast it's not even funny. Getting quite beautiful too, with all them rumours going around and what not, ya know what I'm sayin'? She reminds me of my big bro, always strict on the rules and stubborn, but she's a good kid. And she's strong too. If she ever changes her mind about pursuing the title of Raikage, the other candidates are gonna have some _tough_ competition. The girl is as tough as they come."

"What about Seido's kid? Is he anything like his old man?" Motoi corked the flask and pitched it back to Kirabi, quite intrigued to learn about Kirabi's team, whom his fellow jōnin seemed to care very much for.

"Hari is nothing like his old man, and I don't know about you, but I think that's a good thing. The kid's got a good heart. He wields the blade better than any kid his age– just like his old man back in the old days. Except, he don't let all that get to his head. He's a humble person- kinda of reminds me of you, Motoi. Valiant but gentle, ya kna' mean?" Kirabi looked up and smiled beaming with pride. "I can see him serving right beside Naruto when those two grow up. They're inseparable."

"Like you and me were, huh?"

"Yeah, but we were _much_ cooler than them pubescent brats."

The lifelong friends shared a good laugh at that comment, neither could really remember the last time they had a conversation like this.

"So this Naruto? He's the jinchūriki of the nine tails, right? What's he like?" Motoi asked. His subconscious couldn't remember the last time he was this interested in learning about some snot-nosed genin.

"The kid's special, that's for sure. He's just like his old man, you know? Talented, kind, and can be as gentle as a summer breeze and as terrifying as a hurricane. That kid... he's got heart and he's got this _power_ that I just can't wrap my head around no matter how much I think about it."

"Like a kekkei genkai (bloodline limit)?"

"No, nothing like that," Kirabi shook his head. "No, this power is much more powerful than any bloodline limit out there I've seen or heard of."

Motoi frowned. "I'm not following you here."

"Hehe, I guess it's hard to explain," Kirabi chuckled good-naturedly. "In the best way I can put it... he's got this _charisma_ that allows him to change anyone he meets, no matter where they came from, what past they have or what burdens they carry, into allies."

Motoi took a moment to process the information. From what Kirabi was saying, this team sure was something. "That's an interesting team you've got there, Kirabi. Almost makes me want to reconsider Raikage-sama's offer and train a few brats myself."

"Tche, don't get me wrong. Those kids can be a handful."

-ooo-

"Who would've believed that we'd run into the Hokage's grandson?" Hari stuffed his hands into his pockets, following his teammates. Konohamaru had left to play with his friends, but not before making Naruto to promise to play Ninja with him once he was finished with the exams.

Upon realizing who Naruto was, Konohamaru and gone on a rant explaining in _great detail_ how excited his grandfather had become about the former Konoha citizen's arrival after seven years. Konohamaru had told Naruto everything he had wanted to know and Naruto was sad to learn the old man's health had been deteriorating increasingly over the years, but he felt elated knowing that the Hokage's health and sprits had been lifted due to news of Naruto attending the Chūnin Exam.

"Hokage-sama must really care for you to be affected this much," Yugito said after "You two were much closer than I had imagined."

"Are you kidding?" Naruto chuckled. "The old man was the only there for me when I needed to be protected. If he hadn't been there, I'd have had a lot worse than a few beatings."

Naruto led his team through the town as they continued to talk, mostly about his childhood and Konohagakure in general. Not all of it was cheerful but Naruto told them everything regardless. It felt good to talk about it; it was as if a crushing weight had been taken off his shoulders. A weight consisting of anger, fear and so many other emotions Naruto hardly had taken the time to process yet that he had carried for as long as he could remember. The team continued to walk around the outskirts of town, having stopped by Ichiraku Ramen where Naruto had been tackled by an excited Ayame briefly who couldn't stop gushing Naruto had returned. After a few bowls, they moved on to the academy where Naruto showed them around the playgrounds and academy as well as the parks. He was supposed to go to Hokage but he had decided against it, thinking it would be best to meet his surrogate grandfather once he had settled in.

"We should head back, it's getting late," Yugito said a few hours later as it had begun to turn dark in Konoha. "Let's go."

"Sure," Naruto and Hari followed her lead as they turned and headed for the hotel. It was evening by now and word had spread like wildfire amongst the villagers. Many blatantly stared and whispered when Naruto passed by, much to his and his teammates' annoyance.

_"It's that Uzumaki kid."_

_"What's the doing here? Ya think he's come back for revenge?"_

_"Are my eyes deceiving me or is that hell spawn wearing a Kumo headband?"_

Naruto twitched in annoyance and felt his blood starting to boil. _"Not even back for a day and this shit again." _Naruto took a deep breath, not wanting to show how much it bothered him and continued to lead his teammates to the hotel, not noticing their concerned expressions.

Suddenly a man stepped forward, shouting in drunken rage. "Hey you, Uzumaki! Why the fuck did ye' come back, yer demon spawn!" The inebriated man stumbled and bent over to pick up a pebble. "Get the fuck outta here!"

Naruto blinked as the pebble flew right at him, but snapped out of his daze and caught the tiny projectile in his fist. "Get out of my way, you drunken bastard or I'm forcing my way through."

"Yer? Come and take yer shot ye' demon! Ye Kumo scum!"

Naruto's eyed narrowed dangerously and he flicked the pebble once upwards and caught it again before flipping it straight at the man and sent him sprawling to the ground. "I told you to get out of my way."

The crowds of villagers began to move towards them, seeing the aggressive move as a reason to return the favor.

"Nice going Uzumaki," Yugito chided with an annoying click of her tongue. "We're moving out of here. See you at the hotel."

Hari placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Let's go." Hari disappeared with a burst of smoke leaving Naruto alone.

"What yer waiting for? Go on and run ya fuckin' curse!"

"Yeah, get outta here! Yer not wanted, yer never were!"

Naruto gritted his teeth about to lose his temper. Squashing the urge to retaliate both verbally and physically Naruto made a single hand seal, eying the growing crowd with his now blood red, slit eyes.

…

As the youths disappeared by means of Shunshin, Geko Genryūsei turned and jumped off the rooftop. The scene had looked like it was about to change to a violent one, but to his credit the young shinobi had followed his friends rather than stay and defend himself. _"Disaster avoided."_

-ooo-

(Kumo Accomodations)

Back at the hotel, Naruto followed his teammates inside and into their room and dropped himself on the bed and cupped his face, groaning loudly. "Fuck."

"Well, that was interesting," Hari said with an unnerved smile. "This is what you had to deal with as a kid, huh?" Hari undid the strap on his back and placed this ninja-to on his bed.

"Just forget about it," Naruto wasn't in a mood to ruin their whole evening. "We need to make a schedule."

Hari raised an eyebrow but then realized what the blond meant. "How long till the exams start?"

"Six days. Close the windows." Yugito ordered Hari and then turned to Naruto and nodded.

Naruto met her gesture and picked up his pouch and withdrew one of his scrolls, ripping off a ticket seal from the scroll with the kanji for 'silence' on it and threw it at the door where it stuck and began to burn purple fire with the kanji for 'ten' above it. Naruto's latest modification of his privacy seals would burn purple fire for ten minutes, knocking down a number with each minute passed. The trick was to add another formula to the basic privacy seals Naruto had bought to study so it would display the amount of time left before the ticket burned up. It was quite easy and convenient.

"The Chūnin Exams will commence in six days. That's five days starting tomorrow. Any suggestions as to how to schedule our training?" Yugito said down on a pillow by the kotatsu.

Naruto and Hari joined her sitting on the right and left sides of the table on their cushions. Naruto cupped his chin and took a moment to think before nodding and looking at his teammates. "We haven't had much time to train our ninjutsu at all. I suggest we make sure we get a closed off area where we can train in private."

Hari nodded slipping into his blue kimono robe. "I agree. It's been a while since any of us had time to train our skills. I also suggest we take the time to study the general area of Konoha. Can't hurt to know the landscape, can it? There might be herbs out there we could use for emergency medicine." As the team's sensor and medic, Hari had become the support figure of the team. He was no slouch and though he was mostly offensive orientated, it was his duty to ensure they were covered for most possible complications.

Yugito crossed her arms and concurred. "Naruto, you'll be responsible for making storage seals that can hold up to two weeks' worth of food, water and medical supplies." Yugito waited for her teammates to agree and moved on. "Ninjutsu and landscape evaluation need to be do on separate occasions but it's doable. Now, in regards to hand to hand combat, we may have gotten rusty after being cooped up in the ship. I suggest taijutsu in the morning, a quick break before we scout the area and then we move on to ninjutsu. After which, we'll call it a day for team training and hone our individual skills."

"Sounds good."

"Great."

"Good, now for tactics. There will be six teams from each of the Great Five Shinobi Villages, which makes thirty teams, which is ninety genin in total. In addition to these ninety teams, there will be another seven small villages involved that I know off that will send three teams in each, so that it's another twenty-one teams, or sixty-three more genin, which makes roughly hundred fifty-three genin in total. That's a hundred-fifty potential enemies."

"That's whole lot of enemies," Hari frowned. The odds weren't very desirable at all. "Are alliances forbidden?"

"No," Yugito answered. "However, they're frowned upon. Though most teams from the same villages will make pacts with each other to improve their own odds of surviving and passing the exam."

"I don't want to make pacts." Naruto leaned back completely, lying on the comfortable rug under the kotatsu. "I refuse to be in any alliance with the other teams."

Yugito turned her teammate and opened her mouth to rebuke him but stopped in her tracks after she saw the serious look in the blonde's eyes as he stared at the ceiling. "Why?"

Hari eyed Yugito and nodded, glancing at his teammate. "I don't like it either Naruto, but-"

"I came here to see my limits." It was a simple and short sentence but it explained everything the blond meant. "I came here to see how far I've come ever since _that_ day. I don't care about getting a bump in rank or pay. This is much more important than that." Naruto's eyes shined with a sense of maturity and determination. "Please try to understand that."

"Understood," Yugito conceded. "No alliances."

Hari joined Yugito and nodded. "No alliances." he repeated.

Naruto got up and unzipped his jacket as he walked off to his room. "I'm calling it a night. See you guys tomorrow." Naruto tossed his scroll of tickets to Yugito in case they wanted to continue discussing schedules and tactics.

…

The following day, team Kirabi woke up early and convened in their room and ate quickly. After a rather rushed breakfast, they left the hotel and made for one of the training grounds they had passed the previous day. Upon arriving at the training ground they found a genin team of Konohagakure going at it in vicious hand to hand spars.

Deciding to move further into the training grounds, the team continued into the forests and stopped at a clearing where they took of their bags and began their exercises before training.

Naruto and Hari decided to spar to 'properly wake up' and took of their jackets and took stances a few feet away from each other. Whilst her knucklehead teammates sparred Yugito continued to go through stretching exercises in the meanwhile.

-ooo-

Naruto and Hari went at it for nearly twenty minutes and were sweating by the time Yugito had finished her stretches and sat down by the three to observe them fight.

Naruto took off his jacket threw it aside, left in his muscle shirt with sweat rolling down the side of his head and back. "Let's finish this."

Hari threw off his own Hunter Nin like robe and nodded. "Don't you worry, I intend on finishing this quickly."

As Hari shot forward, Naruto held up his forearm catching Hari's punch and stepped back to get his sparring partner off balance. Hari caught on and went along but rolled over his shoulder and jumped back to his feet in another fighting stance. The teens grinned at each other before charging in again. Naruto raised his leg for a kick, but Hari used it as a lift up and somersaulted behind the _jinchūriki_ landing in a crouch and swiped Naruto's feet of the ground. Naruto support himself on his arms with ease and attacked Hari with his feet in an impressive display of strength and agility.

Naruto pressed on viciously and landed a few glancing blows before hitting Hari once in the face, sending him sprawling to the floor for a second before the brown haired genin was on him engaging him in old fashioned boxing. Naruto easily danced around the punches and landed in a few hard hits in Hari's abdomen, chest and kidneys. When Hari went for a counter attack, he leaned back so low he was on knee level to avoid another kick. Naruto supported himself onto his arms and launched himself like a torpedo, planting both feet in Hari's chest sending him flying over ten feet and landing in a sprawl.

"You've gotten rusty, Hari!" Naruto commented, continuing his little dance he had learned from Kirabi. It improved his sense balance and kept him on his guard during their spars.

"Fuck you," Hari swiped the blood of his lip. "I'm not the one who studied taijutsu under Kirabi for six years!" Hari rushed Naruto, tackling him and taking him to the ground. He took full mount and decked his opponent once and went for another hit but Naruto took grabbed his wrist and elbow and pushed them into an awkward angle that was uncomfortable and painful enough to allow him to take control of the fight.

Naruto decked Hari three times across the face, but Hari moved a split second before impact of the fourth punch and stole the momentum and shoved Naruto of him and ran up to him and drop kicked him backwards in a painful fall of his own.

"Ouch," Naruto set back up and rubbed his chest. "You're gonna have a taste of your own medicine." Naruto charged at Hari, fully intent on returning the favor but both were stopped by a kunai thrown between them by Yugito. The pair turned to Yugito with confused looks but spotted Yugito's frown.

"Hold on, we're being watched," Yugito announced coolly, turning around and reaching into her kunai holster. "You can come out now!" Yugito threw four kunai into the bushes, causing the leaves to rush and a team of genin with the Konohagakure emblem on their headbands.

"Spying already? And caught so soon, that's kinda embarrassing." Naruto waved to his side with a comical expression.

The newcomers that landed in a crouch were an unusual group. The female of the team turned to her teammate and smashed her fist in his skull and chided him. "Chōji! You gave away our position with your crunching!" She was an attractive blond genin with blue eyes and a long ponytail clad in a combination of tight purple mesh, white bandages and fishnet mesh. The beauty had her headband stuck to her slim midriff.

"Sorry, Ino!" The obese genin held his head, dropping his chips. To her right was an obese looking male with mid-length, brown and spiky hair dressed in a black trousers and a green shirt with a beige jacket on top of it with the kanji for 'Akimichi' on it. The last member was a skinny boy with a pine-apple like haircut, a green shirt with a white jacket and black trousers. Like his robust companion he had his head band on his right arm.

"Yo." the skinny genin introduced himself with a lazy expression.

"Shikamaru! Chōji!" Naruto's expression lit up, recognizing his childhood friends.

Shikamaru's expression instantly shifted from a lazy and cocky mixture to an expression that illustrated how caught off guard he was. The genius quickly regained his composure. "So the rumors are true. You're back."

"It's been a while, Naruto." Chōji said with a smile, apologetically rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry for spying on you."

Yugito turned to Naruto and raised an eyebrow. "You know these people?"

"I used to, yeah." Naruto turned to Hari and held up a hand. "We'll have to continue this later, Hari." Naruto looked back at Shikamaru. "So you're spying on us, huh?"

"Not so much spying as confirming rumors," Shikamaru corrected him, stuffing his hands into his pockets like he always did. "I didn't believe them when I heard them at first but I figured a look couldn't hurt."

"We're sorry for spying," Chōji repeated and picked up his bag of crisps.

Naruto believed them. Shikamaru and Chōji were his friends when they were kids and Chōji had always gotten them into trouble (Naruto more than them) simply because he couldn't lie, or wasn't very good at it. "Man, and here I had planned to make a totally awesome, super dramatic appearance at the first part of the exam!" Naruto dropped onto the grass and spread his arms. "Guess that plan just went out of the window... it would've been totally awesome."

"You're really Naruto?" Ino raised an eyebrow, appreciative of her fellow blonde's appearance. The years had been good to the once obnoxious brat from academy. "You sure changed a lot."

"You too. The years sure have been good to you," Naruto winked at her shamelessly and sat up in the grass. "This is my team-"

"Seido Hari, it's a pleasure to meet you." Hari said politely standing next to Yugito. Hari nudged her with his elbow.

"Nii Yugito." Yugito had no intention of being polite to another team that in her books just spied on them. "It's a pleasure." she added when Hari nudged her again.

"Oh, this is Yamanaka Ino." Naruto turned to Hari and whispered rather audibly. "She's hot but she's totally bossy so I wouldn't try it."

"Hey!" Ino shouted, indignant at both the comment on her character and Naruto's blatant referral to her as being 'hot'.

Naruto ignored her and looked at Chōji. "This is Akimichi Chōji. He looks huge and scary, but the guy's harmless. Just don't call him," Naruto covered his mouth from Chōji and mouthed 'fat'. "And you'll be fine.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Chōji said with a nod. "Again, I'm sorry for spying on you."

"Could you stop apologizing already? They don't care, Chōji." Shikamaru sighed exasperatedly, annoyed with his friend.

"And that would be Nara Shikamaru. He may look like a cocky dick, but he's very smart." Naruto's expression turned playfully sour, "You shouldn't bother with this bunch."

"What was that, Uzumaki? Huh?" Ino said with bulging eyes and her fist aimed at the blond.

"You know the whole domineering woman thing? It's kinda hot- ack!"

Yugito withdrew her fist from the blonde's skull. "Apologies for our moronic teammate's rudeness. He's very stupid most of the time."

"Tell me about it." Shikamaru looked up to the clouds and groaned. "He used to get us into trouble all the time when we were kids."

Naruto picked and pulled grass from the ground and looked at Shikamaru. "Do me a favor and don't tell anyone about me being back or participating in the Chūnin Exam. I don't want to make a big deal out of it."

Shikamaru looked at Naruto frowning. The playful and nostalgic atmosphere had moved on to a serious one. "Under one condition."

"Sure. What is it?" Naruto asked Shikamaru, matching his serious expression. Whenever Shikamaru had a serious expression, it always meant something was up. "What's your condition?"

"I want to know why you defected from Konoha and turned traitor?"

"Hey!" Hari suddenly burst out stepping forward with an infuriated look in his eyes as he stood in front of his teammate with an outstretched arm. "You have no right to call him a traitor."

"Calm down, you're embarrassing us." Naruto tugged Hari by this trousers and sighed. Looking up to Shikamaru, Naruto looked him in the eye and answered grunted. "I can't tell you why, but I can tell you that even pursuing this information is against the law in Konoha."

Shikamaru surprising cracked a smile and nodded. "Sure. You confirmed most of my suspicious, so I'll leave it at that. I'll keep my mouth shut but if I were you, I'd move in a little deeper into the forest if you want to avoid being detected."

"Thanks for the advice." Naruto stood up signaling his team to follow his lead. "See you around Shikamaru, Chōji. Oh, and Ino."

"What do you mean, 'oh and Ino', huh?" Ino said, a vein popping up on the side of her head. "You're one of the ones I'm gonna be after during the Chūnin Exam!"

"Oh, I'm flattered but you're a little too wild for me to handle." Naruto winked at her. Naruto picked up his bag and turned around to follow.

Shikamaru watched Naruto walk away with his team raised an eyebrow when Naruto stopped momentarily.

"How's Sasuke?" The blonde's tone was soft enough for his teammates not hear him.

"Sasuke..." Shikamaru stared at Naruto's back unsure how to answer. The genius closed his eyes in thought and then opened them. "He's gotten strong, Sasuke. Extremely strong. He was the genin of the year."

"That's not what I meant, but that's good to hear."

"Huh, what do you mean-" Shikamaru stopped mid-sentence as Naruto turned to look at him over his shoulder with a feral look and his blue orbs shifting into slits.

Naruto followed his teammates further into the forest leaving Shikamaru to swallow thickly. "That guy..."

"There something wrong, Shika?" Ino asked worried, placing a hand on her teammate's shoulder.

"That guy is _strong._" Shikamaru felt a shiver going down his spine. "We should stay away from those guys during the exam." It was just as his father had said.

"Shikamaru..."

-ooo-

Six days. Hundred forty-four hours. One day away from a full week. They passed by in flash for Naruto. Naruto trained vigorously and continuously. The forest was more familiar to him than the hotel room where he slept. Naruto's strong sense of smell had allowed him to find a perfect place in the forest to train. The terrain had enough open ground to spar and duel and the river stream allowed him to use his Suiton and Katon jutsu. The time spent on the Todo had proven cumbersome and the days of training were like convalescence to him. His body was back in top form and his mentality was psyched for success.

"This is the place," Naruto announced standing before the academy building with Hari and Yugito by his sides. "Let's go."

Naruto led his team through the playground and into the playgrounds where many shinobi and civilians had begun to flock together in anticipation of the Chūnin Exam.

_"That's that Uzumaki kid. I thought he died! Why did that Demon bastard have to return?"_

_"A former Konohagakure citizen allying with those greed ridden fools from Kumo. What a disgrace!"_

Naruto closed out the comments continued his pace past the crowds of shinobi and villagers. The exam was about to start. There was no room for failure. He was here to represent his beloved Kumogakure and to make those who believed him proud. "That's right, Jiji (grandpa), this is for you too." Naruto looked down on to the pair of goggles in his hand as his mind leaped back five days ago when he met with the Hokage after six long years.

_Flashback…_

_Knock! Knock! Knock!_

"Come in."

Naruto opened the door and walked into the officer of Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Sandaime Hokage of Konoha. The office was exactly like Naruto could remember as a kid, aside from a few new ornaments spread across the spacious, oval shaped office.

"Naruto-kun."

Naruto looked to kind face of the elderly Hokage of Konoha. "Jiji!" Naruto couldn't hide the elation and excitement in his voice.

Hiruzen got out of his seat and walked over to Naruto and embraced him. "My it's been such a long time." Hiruzen took a step back and gave Naruto a look over. "You sure have grown, Naruto-kun. It pains me to think about what I missed out." Hiruzen stepped aside and motioned to a seat. "Come, come! Have a seat, Naruto-kun. There's a lot to talk about."

Naruto nodded and took a seat opposite his surrogate grandfather. They sat in silence for a few moments, simply looking at each other and remembering the old days when Naruto would visit the Hokage as and rescue him from his paperwork. Naruto smiled remembering the days when the Hokage would take him to the park and tell him all kinds of stories about heroes from the past.

"I can't believe you are really here," Hiruzen spoke eventually, eying Naruto with great intent, taking in all of his features. The boy he knew had grown so much since he had last seen him. It was a painful thought to think on how much he had missed out on. Hiruzen leaned back into his comfortable office chair.

"I can't believe I'm actually here either." Naruto said honestly. "I didn't plan to come back here. I didn't think I _could _come back here if I ever wanted to."

"Naruto," Hiruzen said frowningly with grandfatherly concern, "You'll always be welcome here. No matter what anyone says, Konohagakure is your home. You know that, don't you?"

"Kumogakure is my home now, Jiji. I'm happy there. I've made a lot of friends, and even though we don't always get along I found family there. People who accept me and love me for who I am." Naruto paused and smiled fondly. "Like you, Jiji. I have met people that opened their hearts to me and took me in when I was all alone, when I needed to be protected the most." Naruto's mind jumped to images of Hari, Yugito, the Raikage and all the other people he had met ever since he had met Kirabi, the man he saw as surrogate big brother or even a father at some times.

Hiruzen looked downcast. "I see. You have truly come to love Kumogakure, haven't you?" Hiruzen pressed on. "And here I had hoped to convince you to stay with us. Return to the home of your parents."

"I'm sorry, Jiji, but there's no way I'll ever abandon Kumogakure," Naruto said firmly. His expression softened however. "I'm glad I've had the chance to meet with you again, Jiji. You're still one of my loved ones, nothing will ever change that. But," Naruto's tone was firm again. "I will not return to Konohagakure."

Silence took place. Grandfather and grandson shared looks but the words they wished to speak did not come out. For a minute or two they looked each other in the eye, conversing without words. Hiruzen was taken aback by the light in Naruto's eyes. The sheer determination and willpower that shone brightly through his blue orbs that held wisdom beyond the young man's years.

"You have grown into a strong young man, haven't you? I see it. I can feel it. You've matured. You have become a good person. And though it pains me you won't come back," Hiruzen said with a pain in his eyes and voice however Hiruzen nodded, tears forming at the corners of eyes. "What else could a grandfather ask for?"

"Jiji!" Naruto cried, tears rolling down his eyes as he bowed down to his grandfather. "Thank you for understanding! This is the hardest thing I've ever had to do."

"Do not apologize, Naruto-kun. It is I that should apologize for burdening you with this selfish request. I just had to try." Hiruzen walked over quickly and embraced his grandson once again, allowing the boy to cry. "You will always be my grandson, Uzumaki Naruto. Whether hero, villain, good or bad. You will always have a grandfather in me, no matter what the circumstances. Do this old man a favor and never forget how much I love you."

"I won't forget, Jiji, it's a promise of a life time!" Naruto withdrew himself from Hiruzen's embrace, his eyes still shining with the same determination and willpower despite his tears. "I will make your proud, Jiji. I'll make you so proud you'll be able to say, 'that's my grandson', even if I'm from Kumogakure!"

_… End Flashback_

Naruto gripped the goggles tightly. Hiruzen had returned his prized goggles from when he was a child. Naruto pulled the goggles over his head and hung them of his neck.

"Let's go."

* * *

**_Author's Notes_**

There you go, chapter fifteen. The gears have finally started to move. In the next chapter, the Chūnin Exam arc officially commences! Drop me a line or two if you feel like it, support and criticism can do wonder for one's writing.

I'm just sayin'…


	16. The Chūnin Exams Commence

**Kumogakure Ninja**

Posted: 12-03-11

Updated: 28-06-11

* * *

CH16: The Chūnin Exams Commence

* * *

(Konoha Academy for Shinobi Arts)

Naruto walked into the academy building and walked past the reception and lobby, making his way to the staircases to climb to the third floor. Naruto noted the building was absolutely packed with chūnin hopefuls making their way through the broad hallways of the academy. The academy itself had remained pretty much the same in regards to its large three story rectangular shape but had recently remodeled or so Naruto thought judging by the polished wooden boards and decorative art and new sliding doors set on the class rooms. Naruto looked around a moment taking in all the niceties Konohagakure's administration must have added to impress the other villages- hell, the academy even had laboratory now.

"We're supposed to go to the third floor, right?" Hari looked up to the sign after they got of the staircase.

"That's right. Why do you ask?" Naruto looked at Hari over his shoulder. "There something wrong?" Hari's gut feeling was uncannily accurate most of the time. Naruto speculated it had something to do with the fact he was a sensory type ninja.

Yugito looked around and nodded, seemingly detecting something wrong too. "Follow me. This isn't the third floor."

"Huh?" Naruto looked utterly confused and followed her anyway. "What do you mean, this isn't the third floor it says right here- oh." Someone had placed a genjutsu on the second floor to eliminate those oblivious to genjutsu. Whoever had cast the illusion had a skill for detail as even the class door numbers matched the floor. Naruto skipped a few stairs and overtook Yugito on the staircase and led them to the fourth floor, which in reality was the third floor. "Only a few teams spotted the illusion. Nice one, Yugito." Naruto complimented her and looked down the corridor of the third floor.

Roughly eight other teams had spotted the genjutsu and had discretely moved on to the real third floor. Naruto spotted two teams from Kumogakure; team Manako and team Hitaro stood grouped up at the end of the corridor. One of the ninja waved at them and beckoned them to come over.

"Over here," Sawada Tokashiji beckoned them to join them from the other side of the hall once more.

Naruto shared a brief look with his teammates but then nodded and walked over and greeted his fellow Kumogakure shinobi. "Yo," they weren't enemies _yet_ Naruto reminded himself hence there shouldn't be in any harm in speaking to them. Besides, Tokashiji was one of his closest friends since academy. "How you guys feeling? Nervous?" Naruto held up his fist to Tokashiji as he walked over.

Tokashiji shrugged and bumped fists with Naruto, "Not quite. The genjutsu was pretty easy to look through. For Miyabi that is." Tokashiji jerked his head to his right, motioning towards Miyabi who had already struck up a conversation with Hari who was smiling nervously and rubbing the back of his head. Apparently the two had not forgotten about their fling a few months ago. Naruto briefly wondered what happened to Miyabi's boyfriend as whatever Hari's intentions were he would have to watch himself.

"Saito-senpai," Naruto nodded to Kenji with a smile. He had become quite fond of the Saito clan heir ever since their 'faithful' meeting as Naruto had put it. "Kenichi, Taiko-chan-"

"Don't say my name," Taiko growled with an unpleasant expression before turning to Yugito with a pleasant smile as they continued to have small talk. Naruto had yet to figure how Taiko could manage her 'bi-polar bitch-fest tendencies' but gave it not much more thought, he had after all peeped on her. It was a surprise she hadn't gone ahead and relinquished him of his testicles. Naruto shivered at the gruesome thought. Being into dominating chicks was one of thing, crazy ones was _another._

Kenji chuckled apologetically for his girlfriend's behaviour. "Hello there, Naruto." The lanky teenager awkwardly offered Naruto a fist bump. Naruto tended to fist bump rather than shake hands. Kenji ruled it out as Kirabi's influence, since the Hachibi's _jinchūriki_ was known for the same tendency as his sensei had once mentioned.

Naruto looked around the hallway, counting a team from Kusagakure (Hidden Grass), two from Amegakure (Hidden Rain) and two more from Konohagakure. "Where are the others?"

"The two other teams from our year should have known about the genjutsu. They're probably observing the other participants to gather some information. I don't know about team Kodama." Kenji looked at the staircases down the hall with a troubled expression.

"Knowing those dumb asses they're probably gonna be eliminated already," Naruto chuckled but was stopped abruptly by another voice.

"What was that, huh, Uzumaki-teme?"

Naruto looked over his shoulder at Shimura Ayame. "Oh, hey, I was getting worried about you guys!" Naruto said with a comical attempt at sincerity.

Ayame scoffed and leaned against the wall next to Hasegawa Madao, "Dick." Ayame glared at Naruto who opened his mouth for a childish retort but was given a murderous look by Yugito and Taiko if he uttered the word he was about to say.

"I apologize for my teammate, Uzumaki-senpai," Zenzou Gokudera said with a nervous bow to Naruto. "She swears like a man, but she can't help it."

"What are ye apologizing for me for, bastard," Ayame shook her fist at her teammate. "And I thought I told you to stop calling him fucking senpai. If anything, he's an academy student's kohai!"

Kenji shared a chuckle with the group and his expression lightened up at the sight of the two other teams from his year arriving. "Hibari-senpai, Nobunaga-senpai, how are you?" Kenji looked at the genin that graduated one year before him.

Team Shikūyo had been added last minute to the roster and met them at _Shitai no Minato_ (City of Harbor) according to his sensei's explanation. Team Shikūyo were a genin team that were the students of the same jōnin for three years. When asked why they had not yet been promoted to chūnin, Manako-sensei had simply shrugged told them the Chūnin Exams were "Thought shit". Apparently they were one of the few genin teams that were trusted to go on long term missions. They had been close to Hi no Kuni for a mission and were given special permission to be the seventh team from Kumogakure.

"Looks like we've got some tough competition," Hibari said with a nod to the other teams. "We helped these guys up so we had to leave ourselves but we saw enough. Fujihara-san spotted two Konohagakure chūnin guised as genin under genjutsu. They were blocking the door that supposedly leads to the first stage of the exam."

"We weren't the only team there scouting others instead of going upstairs. Six Sunagakure (Hidden Sand) teams were down there as well as others. I don't think all the participants have arrived yet though."

Nobunaga spoke up in his deep voice, "We've got some tough competition this year. I saw some Hyūga genin down there and get this, I saw an Uchiha. The last of the Uchiha I heard. Apparently the rest got killed off years ago but this guy-"

Naruto stopped listening. The infamous Uchiha Massacre had taken place mere months before he had left Konoha. _"I wonder how you've turned out, Sasuke." _Uchiha Sasuke was the only other participant Naruto was truly interested in facing during the exam. Naruto wondered how far Sasuke had gone in the years they had been apart.

"Uchiha Sasuke," Naruto interrupted Nobunaga who seemed rather perturbed but listened anyway, "Is he still down there?"

The black skinned shinobi nodded, "Yeah, why?" Naruto noted that not only did he look like Darui, he sounded like him as well, albeit considerably more energetic and down-to-earth.

"I'll be right back, Yugito, Hari," Naruto turned abruptly and ignored the others' confused looks and calls for him. The blond _jinchūriki_ descended down the stair case and walked back into the hallway, walking into a rather interesting scene.

A boy dressed in a tight, green spandex and a girl with buns on the side of her head dressed in white and green Chinese styled clothes were being roughed up by two boys with distinctive markings on their faces.

'Those two must be the chūnin disguised as genin,' Naruto deduced with a glance. A smile crept to his face, the show-off inside of him simply couldn't resist. Naruto approached the pair and intercepted a punch meant for the girl.

"Hey, who the hell are you, kid?" the genin with one of his eyes covered by a bandana demanded. "Let go of my hand- ack!"

Naruto gripped onto the fist so tightly he was close the braking the chūnin's hand. "It's not very nice to hit women."

The chūnin's partner charged at Naruto cocking back his arm, "Tough guy, huh? I'll show you to play hero!"

Naruto let go of the bandana wearing chūnin and turned on the chūnin with bandages covering the bridge of his nose and was about to intercept his attack when the boy in the green spandex appeared in front of Naruto with such speed Naruto's eyes widened. The spandex clad genin caught the chūnin's fist and instantly let go and stepped back respectfully.

"Please, let us not fight before the exam. I know the _Power of Youth_ compels us to pursue action, but please, let us let it build up so we can unleash our youthful exuberance when it is at its peak!"

Naruto chuckled, still unnerved with the strange looking teen's blinding speed. "Sure, whatever you say Geijimayu." This guy might have appeared to look like a pushover and a freak with his spandex, bowl cut like hair and bushy brows, but Naruto knew better than to judge a book by its cover.

The bandage wearing chūnin helped up his partner who nursing his hand. "You two are freaks!"

Naruto ignored them and looked to his right down the hall, and spotted a flick of familiar, black duck-like hair enter one of the training rooms. Naruto also managed to spot the Sunagakure team from a few days ago and locked eyes with the red hair briefly.

"What was that all about concealing our power, Lee?" the teenage girl with the amusing hair style that made her look like a panda. It was kind of _cute. _"That was a total waste. Neji will be here any second and we don't even have a spot yet."

"What are you two doing here?"

Naruto and the two teammates turned simultaneously to what Naruto assumed to be Neji. Neji was a sixteen year old Hyūga with long brown hair that ran down the back of his white and green kimono and a headband strapped to his forehead.

"Heya," Naruto greeted friendly.

"Who is this, Tenten?" Neji ignored Naruto as though he was some snob, looking directly at Tenten, demanding an answer rather than asking her. "I asked you who this was."

"Excuse me," Lee suddenly walked off down the corridor and walked into the training room, brushing past other genin and leaving his teammates.

Naruto locked eyes with Neji, vaguely remembering how there were rumours Hyūga clan members considered it an affront for those with 'lesser' eyes to look them in the eye. "The name's Uzumaki Naruto."

Neji's expression visibly looked caught off guard but to his credit the Hyūga regained his composure. "Ah, the traitor Uzumaki."

Naruto refused to be goaded into losing his tempter. He was too good a prankster to allow himself to be manipulated so easily. "Ah, the Hyūga arrogance still lives on. Funny thing it's hardly ever justifiable." Naruto could be an arrogant prick if he wanted to he reminded himself. The trick wasn't to use big words but to smile as arrogantly as you could while you said it.

"How dare you-"

"See ya," Naruto turned to Tenten and bowed politely and walked down the corridor to the staircases and raised a middle finger in the air aimed at Neji.

-ooo-

"Yo," Naruto greeted his fellow Kumo genin as he approached them. At least another twenty or so teams had seen through the genjutsu or had stopped observing the others and had gone upstairs.

"Where did you go and what were you doing?" Yugito looked at Naruto with her trademark impassiveness.

"Oh, you know, here and there. As for what I did," Naruto shrugged, "I was looking for an old friend and ended up getting in a fight and pissing off a Hyūga who's probably going to be out to kill me. No biggy."

"No biggy?" Yugito repeated before face-palming. "You're incorrigible." Yugito placed a hand on her hip and turned to Hari.

"Don't let him out of my sight, got it," Hari caught on before she had a chance to say it. Hari smiled kindly whilst placing a handing on his blade, "If he tries to sneak away I'll cut him to ribbons."

"Oi, Hari, that's scary shit!" Naruto said indignantly, holding his arms up in a defensive fashion and unnerved by his teammates. Hari was no pushover if he was pissed off enough and had anything sharp to his disposal.

Naruto looked around the hall once more, counting more teams of the other villages. All the teams of Kumogakure were present already. The corridor was too crowded for Naruto to count how many teams came from what villages. He did manage to spot some odd headband emblems he hadn't seen before which his friends managed to indentify for him. Apparently Getsugakure (Hidden Moon), Joukigakure (Hidden Steam) and Shimogakure (Hidden Frost) had decided to send in teams of their own this year due to the high amount of teams attending.

Naruto spotted Shikamaru and his team standing next to another team he couldn't make out through the crowds. Sighing exasperatedly, Naruto complained out loud, "Why do we have to show up two whole fucking hours before the exam actually starts? It's totally bullshit."

"It's to wear out your patience, Naruto-kun," Miyabi informed him with a tender smile, turning away momentarily from the other females she had been conversing with.

"Matsuo-san is correct," Kenji agreed with a polite nod to Miyabi before turning to Naruto and adjusting the straps on his body armour. "They want us to get impatient and get into trouble with other teams. They say the exam started in two hours from now, but in reality the exam starts the second you enter the academy grounds. Hence why they set up the illusion on the second floor and have chūnin walking about disguised as genin under more genjutsu." Kenji once again proved to be a fountain of knowledge for what must have been the hundredth time. He was much more perceptive than most who did not know him would peg him for.

"Pointless, if you ask me," Naruto wasn't convinced but leaned against the wall next to Hari and struck up a conversation with Tokashiji and Gokudera to kill some time. He couldn't exactly whip out his handbook on seals here although it was tempting idea.

"It's only another hour by now, Naruto, just relax," Hari told him.

…

Another hour had passed and more teams had arrived on the third floor, though the whole building was so crowded, the Kumo shinobi stuck close to avoid any trouble.

"Alright listen up!"

Naruto turned to look down the hall where a Konohagakure jōnin dressed in a _cool_ trench coat and a bandana stood alongside many other jōnin from other villages. Naruto spotted Genryūsei, Darui and Shi amongst them and smiled in relief. The exam was finally starting for real.

"Listen up!" the jōnin repeated and waited a moment to get everyone's attention. "Everyone is here for the Chūnin Exam. I am the Chief Examiner, my name is Morino Ibiki." Naruto noticed the many gruesome scars that adorned the jōnin's face and swallowed thickly with slight disgust. "All participants follow me!"

Naruto looked to the others and nodded and followed the stampeding genin into the hallway to another part of the building Naruto had never seen when he was a kid. They walked into a huge foyer that was spacious enough for all the chūnin hopefuls to spread out while Ibiki and the other jōnin stepped onto a platform and addressed the crowds. All the while genin were audibly whispering amongst themselves. Morino Ibiki's reputation clearly preceded him.

"SILENCE!" Ibiki shouted, silencing the entire room instantaneously. The bear like man look around and nodded. "The Chūnin Exam officially has commenced. You all will be representing your villages to the best of your ability. The Chūnin Exam will be split into four parts. You will be informed of what each of these parts detail moments before they take place. The first part will commence now. This is the written test part." Ibiki allowed a moment of murmuring before continuing, "You will all be assessed on general aptitude and knowledge of the shinobi arts. Due to the fact there are so many of you this year, we have had to prepare multiple rooms. Stuck on the walls are sheets containing information in what room your team will be examined. You have thirty minutes to prepare." Ibiki abruptly turned on his heels and left the platform with the other jōnin following him.

"Phew," Naruto whistled. "Looks like the gears are finally moving. Can you feel the tension up in this place?" Naruto chuckled good naturedly while Hari went to retrieve their classroom number from the board.

"Good luck, everyone, this is where we split up," Hibari announced with a nod to Kenji and the others.

"Same here," Nobunaga and Kenji said as they all split up.

Naruto sighed, gripping his fist with excitement. "You guys best watch your back. If we have to face each other, I'm not holding back one bit."

Nobunaga looked at Hibari and Kenji and chuckled, "Sure, Uzumaki. Good luck."

Team Kodama abruptly left whilst team Hitaro stuck a while before they parted after Naruto and Tokashiji shared one last fist bump. "Take care," Tokashiji told him.

"Yeah, you too, Shiji."

By the time Hari had returned Yugito and Naruto were all that were left out of the eighteen genin. "They left, huh? We're in room four by the way."

"Yup. Are you ready, Hari?" Naruto looked at his best friend with a determined smile. "From here on out it's us versus all of them."

"Naruto is correct," Yugito agreed taking a look across the giant hall to observe the other teams. "Take a good look around, who knows what we'll see. At this point, we can't afford to overlook anything."

Naruto nodded and looked across the hall to find the Konohagakure teams still stuck close and huddled up. A tall, skinny young man in his late teens clad in a purple body suit with thin, grey hair in a ponytail and glasses approached them. Naruto's eyes narrowed slightly as he saw the man stand in front of none other Uchiha Sasuke and strike up a conversation.

Uchiha Sasuke retained his like duck like haircut over the years, though he had grown taller and had opted for black shinobi trousers and a dark blue robe with the Uchiha clan emblem. Sasuke had his headband strapped to his right arm and carried a katana on his left hip and a kusarigami on the small of his back

"Let's go and take a look," Naruto did not wait for a reply and began to approach the Konohagakure teams, brushing past other genin that were assembled in the hall. Naruto bumped shoulders with another boy from Otogakure (Hidden Sound) who roughly pushed him back with a sneer.

"Watch where the fuck you're walking."

Naruto ignored him and pressed on and stood between a group of Amegakure and Getsugakure a few feet away from the Konoha teams. Closing eyes, Naruto focused on hearing what they were talking about. He had better eyesight, smell and hearing than most people due to Kyūbi, but it was hard to tune out over a hundred genin to hear a specific source.

_"What do you want?"_

Naruto recognized Sasuke's voice instantly. Nobody but him could of speaking with an air of supreme arrogance and come off sounding stoic like Sasuke could.

_"My name is Yakushi Kabuto, and it's not what I want from you, but what I can you offer, my kohai."_ Kabuto spoke with an oil slick tone, his confidence not wavering not in the slightest as he pushed up his old fashioned glasses.

_"We don't need your help, Yakushi-senpai."_ Naruto couldn't quite recognize this voice but it sounded distantly familiar and feminine.

_"Are you sure? I can be of great use to you. Like I said, I'm only here to help. I've tried and failed the Chūnin Exam six times in the row. It's nothing like you may think, Haruno-kohai."_

Naruto frowned, _"Failed six times in a row? That doesn't sound right… And how did he know her name?"_ Naruto clearly remembered Haruno Sakura. He had a childhood crush on her when they were still kids. Naruto used to get in a lot of trouble for defending her, though Sakura never found out.

Sakura gasped audibly. _"How did you know my name?"_

_"Thanks to these special shinobi information cards." _Naruto heard rustling and took a few steps to his right to change his vantage point- Naruto's eyes narrowed. Kabuto was showing the others a deck of intricately designed cards. "_This doesn't look good."_

_"What do those cards do, Yakushi-senpai?"_ Nara Shikamaru asked clearly intrigued.

So even Shikamaru knew this was strange.

_"I have developed a jutsu that allows me to record data on all shinobi in the shinobi database for the Chūnin Exam. They allow me to see stats, mission records and even their ninjutsu,"_ Kabuto sounded extremely arrogant and condescending by now. _"Would you like to see for yourself, Uchiha Sasuke-kun?"_

Sasuke, scoffed clearly interested but attempted to appear indifferent with a shrug. _"Show me what you have on the strongest participants in the exam."_

_"Do you have a name?"_

_"Sabaku no Gaara, he's from Sunagakure. I don't know much about him other than he carries a large gourd and uses sand based techniques. He approached me the other day."_

As Kabuto told them the stats of Sabaku no Gaara, Naruto's eyes bulged. Sabaku no Gaara had been deployed on B rank missions and returned _without a scratch._ In addition, Gaara had a hundred percent success rate on all his missions. Naruto's eyes narrowed, _"This guy is dangerous. If my name comes up-"_

_"Hey, Sasuke-kun, if you want to know about some strong guys, we ran into Uzumaki Naruto a few days ago." _Ino threw herself onto Sasuke, standing close into his personal space and resting her chest on his arm.

_"Uzumaki Naruto? What about him? I thought he was dead."_

Naruto clenched his fists as homicidal thoughts went through his mind regarding a bottle of acid, Yugito's Shūrai jutsu, duck tape and one Uchiha Sasuke.

_"Shikamaru said he was strong and even his dad thought it was important enough to mention him."_

_"Ino!" _Shikamaru glared at her angrily but she ignored him. _"We promised him."_

_"Oh?"_ This seemed to spark Sasuke's interest. The Uchiha heir smirked and turned to Kabuto, _"You, Megane, give me all your information on Uzumaki Naruto."_

Kabuto smirked, happy to have intrigued the Uchiha heir, _"Of course." _Kabuto dramatically bowed and theatrically shuffled his cards and pulled out a data card with Naruto's picture on it. _"Impossible." _Kabuto's eyes visibly bulged, causing the other genin to step closer, _"What is it?"_

_"This Uzumaki Naruto, I have never heard of him before but he is quite the shinobi,"_ Kabuto turned and showed the card to Sasuke and gulped. _"He's taken out an A rank samurai wanted in three countries by the name of Takeshi Takezo... on his own."_

_"Tche," _Sasuke scoffed but pressed on, unable to convincingly feign indifference at this point as his frustration was clearly visible. _"What about his stats? His jutsu? I have no interest in a no name samurai."_

_"Of course, Uzumaki Naruto has an affinity for wind and water and has quite the destructive ninjutsu arsenal on him such as the coveted Shippū-"_

Naruto growled ferociously, causing the shinobi around him to back off instantly. _"There's no way I'm gonna let them learn that piece of information."_ Naruto made a hand seal and Shunshine'd forward instantly and appeared next to Kabuto and grabbed the hand in which he held the card. "Yo."

-ooo-

"Yo," Naruto smiled kindly to his former academy classmates. "Heya, it's been a while. How you doin'?" Naruto increased his grip tightly on Kabuto's wrist as he smiled pleasantly causing the older genin to wince in pain.

"N- Naruto? Uzumaki Naruto?" Sakura's eyes widened dramatically as she took in Naruto's appearance unable to stop herself from blushing. "Is that you?"

"Yo, Sakura-chan," Naruto greeted the rosette warmly. "Haven't you become a beauty?" Truth to be told, Sakura had become good looking and looked quite attractive in her red, sleeveless shirt and white skirt under which she wore black skin tight shorts. "Would you like to go on a date with me? Don't answer now though," he clenched his fist and turned to Kabuto who looked fearfully into his eyes. "I don't know how you got all that information on me, but if you give out any of it... I'll kill you." Naruto promptly took the card of Kabuto and placed it in his pocket, leaving the bespectacled genin nursing his hand.

"So the fool returns," Sasuke looked at Naruto with a sly grin. Apparently he _did_ remember the blond _jinchūriki._ "I must say, who would've thought you would join Kumogakure?"

"Maa," Naruto rubbed the back of his head with a smile, feigned ignorance, "Who are you?" Naruto pulled a comical expression while enjoying Sasuke's outrage, enjoying the opportunity to return the favour.

"What?" Sasuke hissed, stepping forward and glaring daggers at Naruto. Realizing he fell for it, Sasuke scoffed and crossed his arms allowing himself a tiny smile. "As if you don't know."

Naruto broke his 'grin and stare' contest and turned to the pale skinned Hyūga staring at him whilst furiously blushing at his appearance. "Na- Naruto-kun?"

"Heya, Hinata-chan, Shino, Kiba-teme," Naruto held up two fingers in greeting. "It's been a while." Naruto eyed the headband Kiba had strapped around his thigh and placed a hand on his mouth in a comical feint of shock. "No way, they let you pass? Who did your sister sleep with for that one?"

"What was that, Uzumaki? Lookin' for a bruising already, aye?" Kiba's canine partner Akamaru jumped on his shoulder and yelped excitedly.

"Oi, Akamaru you've gotten pretty big!" Naruto said reaching out to the dog and petting it affectionately to which the puppy yelped happily. The hell with cats and foxes, at least _dogs_ liked him. "I still don't get what you see in him, Akamaru, I really don't! Would you like to come with me instead, buddy?"

"Hey don't ignore me!"

"Naruto-kun?" Hinata stuttered in absolute shock at the sight of Naruto flagging the Kumogakure headband. It became harder to breath and it felt like her heart stopped beating. "I- I'm- excuse me!" Hinata turned around and left quickly, running away with Shino right behind her a moment later after a curt nod exchange.

Naruto watched Hinata run away with a frown and turned to Kiba, "Heya, Kiba. It's been a while but would you mind going after Hinata-chan. We'll catch up later."

"I was going to anyway," Kiba growled and left quickly, running after his teammate with Akamaru back on his shoulder.

"I guess it's a bit of a shock considering...," Naruto trailed off and looked at Ino who gripped on tighter to Sasuke who seemed even more annoyed with her almost violating proximity, "Ino_-chaaaan."_

"I tried to stop her, but once she starts talking she can't help but run her mouth," Shikamaru told him with a shrug. "You didn't have to hurt Yakushi-san though."

Naruto turned to Kabuto, his expression harsh and unforgiving, "I almost forgot about you, Megane. If you want to steal some information, do it on some punks from Oto or some other backwater village for all I care. If you pull the same stunt again-" Naruto's eyes narrowed and he instantly turned around to roundhouse kick his would-be attacker across the hall, sending other genin sprawling and into a wall with such velocity he left a crater. "Wauw, that was rude."

This would be attacker was a lanky teenager dressed in the purple military print of Otagakure, gauze covering most of his face, leaving only his left eye uncovered. He wore a large poncho with long sleeves, a snake patterned scarf around his neck with a straw raincoat protruding from the back of his scarf. Most notably, his attacker hard a large amplifier of sorts on his right arm.

"Dosu!" Dosu's teammates ran over to their teammate. The girl crouched next to him and helped him to his feet.

"Zaku, get him!"

"I got it, Kin!" Zaku rushed forward to attack Naruto but suddenly stop as a loud voice boomed across the room.

"STOP FUCKING AROUND, MAGGOTS!"

Naruto gulped, "Yugito's going to kill me. I'd better go now, see ya." Naruto left the Konoha teams to their own devices and walked past the crowds of genin, ignoring the looks he got from the others and stood next to his teammates.

"Nice going," Hari said with a sour expression. Hari looked across the hall and onto the podium where the jōnin stood, amongst which as few looked at Naruto with disdain, including their Shinobigashira, Genryūsei. "You're going to get us kicked out at this rate, Naruto."

"No," Yugito said firmly, surprising both of her teammates. "That fool came after you. He underestimated your power and now he's less likely to try and repeat any future actions. In fact, he may pass on a word of caution to the rest of Otogakure's teams, meaning we have less opposition for us to worry about."

Naruto merely nodded, silently wondering why Yugito wasn't berating him like she usually would do. Naruto was sure if he had pulled something like this before their mission in _Ritoru Haaku_ she would have never let him live it down or forget. "Ahuh."

-ooo-

Naruto sat down in class room number four in the front row close next to Hibari on his far left and Shikamaru's team were a few rows behind him. Naruto recognized the Otogakure team and Sasuke's team were in his class but they were all spread out. Yugito was seated in the far left and Hari in the far right. It was impossible for him to make any communication with the others.

"The first part of the exam is simple," Ibiki explained as silence settled throughout the massive classroom. "You will all have one hour to answer the ten questions on your sheet. To pass this exam, you must score at least seventy percent. To your left and right you will see chūnin proctors. They are highly trained in spotting cheating and other foul play. If you are caught, your whole team will be disqualified. If you give up, your whole team will fail," Ibiki took a moment to let the information sink in and then continued with a ferocious grin, "At the end of the exam, you will be given question eleven. No matter how well or bad you did on the first ten questions, question eleven will determine whether you pass or fail."

"Then what's the point in the first ten questions?" an indignant genin from Iwagakure (Hidden Rock) shouted.

"That is for you to find out," Ibiki replied with sheer indifference. "Oh, and if you back out during the eleventh question, you will be refused entrance into further exams. In other words, you will be a genin for the rest of your lives."

"No way!"

"That's ridiculous!"

"He's lying! He's lying, isn't he?"

Naruto observed Ibiki, noting how much the man was enjoying their outrage by his smile. 'This can't be right,' the _jinchūriki_ shook his head, 'That's definitely a trick. Why would all the villages agree to something like this? Especially the smaller villages who have little man power as it is. They can't miss out on getting their genin to become internationally acknowledged chūnin, can they?'

"The exam starts, you may start as soon as you get your test paper." Ibiki promptly left the room, leaving the proctors to start the exams.

…

_Explain to great detail the theory behind pocket dimensions in regard to the Sealing Principles written by Ikamuzu Irottah during the fifth age of the Shinobi Worlds. Explain into great detail._

Naruto smirked. This was simple enough for him though he did think it was strange to ask a complicated question like this during a Chūnin Exam. Not many knew of this theory, hell, Naruto doubted most jōnin knew about it. Naruto dripped his brush in the ink pot provided and swiftly began to write the answer to great detail. Thanks to Fūinjutsu his calligraphy had improved by leaps and bounds. Five minutes later, Naruto pulled the page of to look at the next questions.

'What the fuck?'

_Name the theory that proved the existence of chakra coils and go into detail what said theory entails._

Naruto tapped his desk nervously; there was no way he knew this. Deciding to look on the next few pages his eyes bulged. These were all questions he hadn't the faintest idea of as to what the answer could be. 'Is this what chūnin are supposed to know? I'm fucking screwed if I don't get the eleventh question.'

Naruto decided to calm himself and just relax and wait for the eleventh question to pop up. There was no way he would give up now. As Naruto was thinking this, he heard distant ticking noise. A repeated series of taps that sounded like Morse code, Naruto established. 'Those Oto guys aren't as dumb as they look. Guess they're really making use of sound related techniques.'

…

It was an hour later when Morino Ibiki returned to the class room and coughed, "Your time is up. Stop writing immediately." The tall, bear like ninja waited for the rustling of brush on paper to stop and for the genin to look at him. "Before we move on to the eleventh question, there is something you all must see." Ibiki promptly removed his bandana revealing his gruesomely scarred and burned head.

"Holy fuck!"

"Oh that's just sick!"

Naruto felt the urge to gag at the sight of the man but refused to visibly express his discomfort and disgust.

"The questions set for these paper would be impossible to solve for any genin," Ibiki announced, confirming Naruto's suspicions. "The whole purpose of this exam was to see how you would perform under pressure and your information gathering skills." Ibiki's face contorted into one of the most fearsome expressions Naruto had ever seen in his life. "Information is the most important currency in the shinobi world. Without it, we would needlessly lose lives and fail our missions. It is also of the upmost importance you learn how to protect your information," Ibiki pointed to his mutilated skull, "It is your DUTY as the front line warriors of your respective villages to PROTECT the information entrusted to you by your superiors AT ALL COSTS!"

Naruto involuntarily shivered. This guy was so passionate it simply radiated out of him and filled up the room.

"Now for the last question... Those who do not want to answer must leave the room immediately. Those who forfeit now may try again next year. Those that stay and fail will never become chūnin."

"I- I give up!"

"Me too!"

"And me!"

"Teams six, forty-three, thirty-two, seventy-five, you all fail," said a proctor reading from a list stick to a clipboard.

Gradually more began to raise their hands.

Naruto frowned with uncertainty. These were ridiculous demands on Ibiki's part and if it was true no one could become a chūnin if they failed the eleventh question, what was the point? He growled as several despondent genin apologized to their teammates and got up and left the exam hall. All the while, Ibiki was smiling contently as he put his bandana back on, his grin widened when even Naruto raised his hand.

"SCREW YOU, I'm not running away!" Naruto stood up slamming his palm on his desk and cracking it. "Even if I'm going to be a genin for the rest of my life, I'm going to be the Raikage!" Naruto laughed loudly and sat down, "Give it your best, baldy, I'm not gonna budge one bit!"

Ibiki chuckled, _"Interesting kid." _The jōnin looked around once more and noticed how all hands were retracted. _"This kid... he wiped out all of their uncertainties with one speech. I guess there's no point in waiting then," _Ibiki looked to the proctors on the left and the right and nodded. "Now then, you all pass!"

"What?" Naruto shouted in disbelief. "We pass?"

As Ibiki continued to explain the eleventh question was whether they were prepared to take the risk, several of Naruto's teammates and friends from both Kumo and Konoha looked at him smiling, impressive with his resilience and determination.

"Now then, for the second part of the Chūnin Exam-"

_CRASH!_

A figure appeared crashing through the window and shooting kunai in four different directions to spread out a banner that read: "Examiner Mitarashi Anko At Your Service!"

"Hello there brats! The name's Mitarashi Anko, and I will be your second Examiner!" Mitarashi Anko was as shapely woman with light brown, pupil-less eyes. Her violet hair was done up in a short, spiky ponytail. Anko was dressed in a tan overcoat, complete with a fitted mesh body suit that stretched from her neck down to her thighs. She wore a dark orange mini-skirt, as well as a forehead protector with the Konoha emblem, a small pendant that looked like a snake fang on a thick cord and shin guards along with a dark blue belt around her waist that connected to her skirt that had an appendage-like sash.

"Wow, she's hot!"

Naruto full heartedly agreed with the callous statement made by a genin a few rows behind him. Anko looked like the kind of women present in the wildest dreams of men of all ages.

"Tche, sixty out of ninety? Ibiki-chan you've gotten soft!" Anko looked away from the bear like jōnin and pointed at the genin. "Listen up, maggots, this was just the first part of the exam so don't get cocky. From here on out it's gonna be fucking hardcore!"

_"I wouldn't mind going hardcore with her,"_ Naruto thought looking at her see-through fishnet top that revealed a significant portion of her perky cleavage.

"The second part of the Chūnin Exam will be taking place at the forty-fourth training ground of Konohagakure, also known as the Forest of Death!" Anko dramatically paused, enjoying being in the centre of attention. "Go speak to your jōnin instructors, they will show you the location. The second part of the Chūnin Exam starts in three hours from now. You best prepare yourself! Dismissed!"

With that said the genin stood up out of their benches and left the examination room cheering and grumbling amongst each other.

"I can't believe we passed, Fūji!"

"Neither can I!"

Naruto smiled contently and left the room and waited outside in the hall for his team to come after him.

-ooo-

In the hall the others had already appeared. Out of the two-hundred-sixty, a shocking hundred-eighty had passed the first part of the exam. That meant sixty teams were out there for Naruto's own team to contend with.

"How'd it go?" Hari asked when they met up by the water tap.

Naruto groaned, "That was one big mind fuck. I just knew there was something up with those conditions. It didn't make sense to me. I mean- ouch what was that for?"

Yugito had arrived and promptly punched him in the back of the head. "That's for encouraging more people to stay on. You just decreased our odds of succeeding."

"Sorry," Naruto offered with one of his comical expressions, callously giving away he was not apologetic in the slightest.

Yugito crossed her arms and sighed with annoyance but allowed herself a smile. "Still, this tournament is getting exciting. We should convene with Darui-sensei and Shi-sensei immediately."

"Sure thing, Neko-taichō! Ouch!" Naruto held his head and gritted his teeth. "I bet Kirabi told you to hit me in the end- he did, didn't he?" Naruto was convinced he was going to end up with permanent brain damage if both his sensei and Yugito continued to hit him in the head.

"Ouch," Yugito feigned hurt and shook her hand. "Kirabi-sensei's punches gave you a hard head. I'm not sure whether I'm hurting you more than me."

Hari burst out in laughter, purely because Yugito never took to dramatics and her awkwardness was just priceless. "She's got you there, hahaha!"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Can we just get to moving? From the looks of it other teams heard of my little stunt and they don't look to happy." Naruto was right, at the moment he said it he noticed he was getting the 'evil eye' – as Kirabi had called it – from other teams that weren't too happy with his stunt.

Naruto spun on his heels and led his team outside of the hall, on the way flipping off Hyūga Neji without bothering to look at him or wait for his outburst. Once they got outside Naruto and his teammates headed for their hotel where they knew Darui and Shi would be expecting them. All the while laughing and celebrating having passed the first part of the test.

…

"Hey there, Naruto-kun, Hari-kun, Yugito-chan," Shi greeted them with a huge smile when they approached them. Even Darui who stood next to him look elated.

"Yo," the deep voiced jōnin greeted with his hand. Darui nodded appreciatively of the team, proud of their achievement. "I heard you were quite the motivational speaker, Naruto."

Shi's expression turned comically sour, "Not exactly the best decision you've made, Naruto-kun. You only increased the opposition and decreased your own chances."

"That what I told him but he's not too bothered by it," Yugito shrugged no longer caring. She knew she wanted to test her limits as well, maybe even as much as Naruto.

"Maa," Naruto waved the comment off, simplistic as ever. "It's not a big deal. The more to fight the better!"

"Kirabi-senpai would have said the exact same thing. It can't be helped I guess," Darui smiled lazily and reached into his pocket and withdrew a scroll. "Here," the giant jōnin tossed the scroll to Yugito who handily caught it and scrolled it open. "Instructions how to get to training ground forty-four, otherwise known as Shi no Mori."

"Genryūsei-dono needs to see all the jōnin immediately. We have to part for now," Shi told them, placing his hands on Yugito's shoulder. He had taken a liking to Yugito during their genjutsu lessons and treated her like a protégé and younger sister. "See you in ten days, Yugito-chan. Take care of these two morons."

"Hey!" Hari spoke up indignantly.

"Sorry, one idiot." Naruto was too busy poking his nose, causing Shi to sigh. "Look over these two."

"You got it, Shi-senpai," Yugito nodded firmly walked over to Naruto, slapping his hand out of his nose. "Let's go, Hanatsumi. Hari."

"Ha- Hanatsumi? Oi!" Naruto followed his teammates. "That's rude you know!"

_(TL: Hanatsumi translates to flower picker. 'Hana' is synonym for nose. So in actual fact, Yugito is calling Naruto a 'nose picker.')_

-ooo-

If Naruto to pick one word to describe the Forest of Death it would be 'huge.' The forest was encircled by a giant gate that went up at least fifty feet. The forest stretched for ten miles in radius and from what Naruto could see it was a giant greenhouse for thousands of flora and fauna. The Forest of Death truly lived up to its name. Even from outside the gates, Naruto could smell blood from different kind of animals. To top it off, the sun was setting meaning that by the time they got in the forest they would be moving in the dark. They would have to break for camp much earlier than they had wanted.

Close to the entrance were groups of genin standing by their teammates. Naruto saw many different shinobi from more villages that he knew existed. A shiver went down the jinchūriki'sspine. He couldn't bare the excitement any longer. He had to go out there and _fight._

"Okay, listen up!" Anko had appeared by means of Shunshin and began to rally the chūnin hopefuls to her. "Alright, looks like everyone is here! Here's what's going to happen, so listen up carefully. Every team will be given one scroll out of four. These are Earth, Heaven, Darkness and Light. You objectives are to track and eliminate other teams by taking their scrolls through any means necessary. After you have collected all four scrolls, you must report to the _Shi no Tou_ (Tower of Death). It is absolutely imperative you have all four scrolls or you will be denied entry unless you forfeit _at_ the tower."

Anko allowed a moment of murmuring and waited for the information to sink before making her most important announcement. "Now that you understand, you must comply with two demands. Firstly, you must sign a voucher that revokes any responsibility of Konoha as to your potential deaths."

"Potential deaths? What kind of exam is this?"

"Wh- what's she talking about?"

"QUIET!" Anko silenced the genin that were talking and gave them all a look over. "Death is a probable- no _common_ occurrence in the Chūnin Exams. You will be fighting to _survive_ as well as complete your objectives. No punches are pulled during this exam, so brace yourselves for the worst.

Now then, for the second part you must go to one of the stands and pick and await for one of the chūnin to assign you one out of four scrolls you must protect. Only one per team may go pick up scroll." On that note Anko dismissed them and went to stand by some of the chūnin at the stalls.

"I'll go," Naruto told Yugito and made his way over to a stall.

The stalls were operated by roughly fifteen chūnin who guarded the four large boxes that were protected by seals Naruto recognized to open only on blood contact from the authorized users the seal maker had attached to seal by drops of blood.

"Oh, well look who it is."

"Excuse me?" Naruto looked at the pair of chūnin in front of him that were radiating hostility. Naruto frowned thinking they were one of the prejudiced shinobi that hated him because of his connection to the Kyūbi but he noticed one of the chūnin had a bandana on he recognized and his right hand was wrapped up in bandages. "Oh, it's you!"

"Yeah, that's right, you bastard," the chūnin glared at him and raised his hand. "Thanks to your little show off stunt, I've been put on medical leave and I'm stuck working on this fucking exam for the duration of as an extended mission it to get by."

Naruto rubbed the back of his nervously and smiled apologetically. "Sorry about that." Truth to be told, Naruto didn't feel one bit apologetic but he apologized for appearances. Naruto handed over the three slips to the chūnin's partner and continued to smile apologetically.

"Whatever. You've got some grip, I'll give you that. Here take the Earth scroll, it goes well with your personality," the brazen chūnin reached into the box and took out a white and brown scroll with the kanji for "Earth" on it along with a gate ticket with the number '25' and passed it to Naruto. "Go on, scram! Your team enters through gate twenty-five."

Naruto took he scroll and bowed his head politely and left the stall to reunite with his team. "Yugito," he tossed the scroll to his female companion. "You should hold on to that."

Yugito caught it and looked at the scroll briefly before tossing it back, "No, you hold on to it. If we were ambushed the first person they would go after is me."

"She's right," Hari said in agreement as he fiddled with his forearm protectors. "I'm getting excited."

"Me too," Naruto told him as he looked over to Anko was gathering the genin once again to give last minute instructions. "Let's go."

…

"Everyone here should've handed in their slips and should've received a gate number and a scroll- okay, that's fine. Now that that's out of the way, are there any questions?" Anko looked around and smirked placing her hands on her curvy hips, "No questions? Okay, just don't come to haunt me if you die."

"'Don't came to haunt me if you die'!" Naruto said with a rather flawed impression of Anko as he did a silly dance with his hands on his hips. It got a few laughs from his genin peers and lightened the dark mood.

Instantly a kunai shot out and streaked across Naruto's face, leaving a deep gash on his cheek. Anko appeared behind him and grabbed him in a neck lock. "Oh, I think we've found this batch's moron. There always is one moron amongst the bunch," Anko leaned in closer, resting a blade on Naruto's neck and pressing her perky breasts against his back. "Oh my, what tasty looking blood," Anko proceeded to trail her tongue over Naruto cheek but suddenly stopped the second she felt a hand slip under skirt and grab onto her firm behind and grope her. "Aren't you a little pervert!" Anko said squeezing down on Naruto's neck, temporarily choking him before dropping him to the ground. "If you survive this part of the exam look me up kiddo. We can have some _fun._"

"A boy toy at your age? That's a bit embarrassing isn't it?" Naruto blatantly trying looking up her skirt.

Many of the genin couldn't help but laugh and the men specifically felt murderous envy towards the blond. Naruto got up and dusted of his pants and stood next to his teammates, oblivious to Yugito's murderous glare.

"Now then, proceed to your gates and wait for the signal!" Anko instructed them in an overly cheery voice.

"What signal?" a bespectacled genin inquired to which Anko smiled.

"Oh, you'll know when you see it. Just a word of advice, the signal tends to piss off the countless of deadly inhabitants of the forest so I wouldn't just stand around. Oh and it's almost night time so expect some great experiences!"

Naruto chuckled, "I like her," he commented as they made for entrance 25 of the Forest of Death. "She's got an interesting personality."

"And a nice ass too, I believe?" Hari added jokingly. "I can't believe you got away with that."

"Me neither!"

Yugito resisted the urge to violently lash out at both of her teammates and especially Naruto. She wrote of her anger to the fact he was a pervert but she knew that wasn't the real reason. Naruto was always callous and sexist towards other girls he knew aside from Yugito. _"Maybe he just doesn't think of you as a girl."_ Yugito shook her head. "Shut up," she told herself under her breath, closing her mind to the issue. Now wasn't the time to feel insecure about her looks or how boys her age perceived her.

_"All participants, good luck! You may begin!" _The voice was projected by megaphone and followed by ear-splitting horn that rattled the creatures within the Forest of Death, sending flocks of crows into the sky, followed by numerous distant roars from the distance.

The gate in front of team Kirabi opened and the team slipped inside in their planned formation with Naruto in the front, Yugito next and Hari in the back.

"Let's GO!"

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Heya!

Guys, I've been practically writing nonstop since I got back to work on Kumo Nin. Chapters seventeen and eighteen are _already_ done – can you believe it? While my beta was busy I even went back and _updated all the previous chapters_ to provide a clearer insight on locations, jutsu and specific words characters are using. I am very enthusiastic as to what you guys are thinking about Kumo Nin as of late so please leave a **review** when you've read the chapter!

Also I've decided to put in an occasional 'Character Corner' as seen in Dragon6's great story Mizukage (most FFN vets have read it). It's really just for fun if you want more in depth information on characters and to keep track on the OC's.

Let's start with the first villain introduced….

**Kumo Nin Character Corner!**

_Name:_ Shiroi no Satoru

_Date of Birth:_ December 3rd.

_Age:_ Thirty-three.

_Blood Type:_ A.

_Affiliation(s):_ Akumu Shokō, previously Shiroi Clan.

_Occupation:_ Samurai.

_Rank:_ None.

_Classification:_ A ranked samurai.

_Bounty:_ Three million ryō.

_Mini biography:_ Not much is known about Satoru other than that he is a descendant of the legendary battle monk Tōshirō no Shiroi, after whom the clan had changed its name to. As a young man Satoru was a prodigy within his clan and some even hailed him as Tōshirō's reincarnation. His prowess made him arrogant and cocky and gave him a superiority and inferiority complex. At some point in his youth, Satoru came into contact with the blade of his other ancestor Shiroi no Nisui, a corrupt monk that had challenged Tōshirō and had suffered crushing defeat. Long after his death, a part of Nisui's soul had remained within the blade named after himself and had manipulated Satoru, whispering to him at night to find the legendary Hiryū Shikōn. Satoru is a refined samurai who enjoys literature and long journeys on foot and battling powerful adversaries. Satoru has always hated his counterpart Takeshi Takezo for his ancestor and has a developed a new hate for Hari while in prison.

_Weapon:_ Satoru exclusively uses his katana Nisui in battle.

_Nature Type:_ Wind, Water and Ice.

_Fighting Style:_ Satoru uses a soshijutsu and kenjutsu mixture that allows him to channel his element nature types, wind and water, through his blade and create ice based attacks.

_Techniques (7):_

Hakkei (Release of Internal Power), Hatsugoori (First Ice of Winter), Eirō (Life Imprisonment), Kenshiko (Sabre Toothed Tiger), Shimobashira (Ice Needles), Yari (Spear), Hanagoori (Ice Flower Dome).


	17. The Forest of Death

**Kumogakure Ninja**

Posted: 16-03-11

Updated:28-06-11

* * *

CH17: The Forest of Death

* * *

(Hokage Tower)

The sixty-nine year old Hokage sat behind his desk in his spacious office in the Hokage Tower. He was in a meeting with one of his most trusted jōnin and was nodding as he listened closely and looked on to the list in his hand. A surprisingly high numbers of teams had passed the first part of the Chūnin Exam, despite the looming threat of perpetual status as a genin.

_60 Teams (180 genin):__ 8 Konohagakure, 7 Kumogakure, 5 Sunagakure, 6 Iwagakure, 5 Kirigakure, 3 Otogakure, 3 Shimogakure (Hidden Frost), 3 Takigakure, 3 Gesugakure (Hidden Moon), 3 Jōkigakure (Hidden Steam), 3 Amegakure, 3 Tanigakure (Hidden Valley), 3 Morigakure (Hidden Forest), 3 Hoshigakure (Hidden Star), 3 Ishigakure (Hidden Stone)._

"An amazing number of teams this year," Hiruzen nodded, placing the document on his desk. "It appears our informants were right. I have just have gotten word there was indeed a meeting between Kusa, Shimo, Jōki and Getsura. I fear there could be a usual high concentration of foul play this year."

"I assume it is too late to stop them now, Hokage-sama?" the jōnin questioned.

"That it is. Then there's the issue between Iwa and Ishi," Hiruzen leaned back in his chair as the jōnin laid out another stack of documents on his desk. "Those two villages have nothing but bad blood between them. However, our Daimyō had cleared both villages due to his relation to the _Tsuchi no Kuni (Earth Country) _royal family."

"That is most unfortunate, Hokage-sama."

"Indeed," Hiruzen entangled his fingers with a nod. "Now, I sense there is more you have to say, Ibiki. Please, confide in me."

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Morino Ibiki nodded and placed another document on the Hokage's desk. "Former Konoha citizen and _jinchūriki _of the Kyūbi no Yokō, Uzumaki is quite the interesting participant, Hokage-sama," Ibiki slid a document across the table to the elderly Hokage. "He answered the two hardest questions about sealing methods and then gave up on it. His answers are detailed and of a high degree. I didn't even know half of this."

"Oh?" Hiruzen glanced at the document and picked it up, his eyes slightly bulged. "Indeed, Naruto is quite proficient and well versed with seals. It is quite unfortunate we had not been able to be there for him as a child. He would have made a powerful shinobi. Now, we have lost him to Kumogakure."

"I see, Hokage-sama. That is now all," Ibiki took a moment to phrase his next sentence. "Uzumaki Naruto has astounding charisma. With a short speech he had eliminate any doubt in the room when I was eliminating the weak willed ones. It was quite interesting."

Sarutobi Hiruzen laughed good-naturedly. "Uzumaki Naruto is just like his father. Powerful and fearless," Hiruzen looked to the portrait of Namikaze Minato on the wall. The Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato. "Just like him."

Ibiki's eyes widened as he did a double take. "Hokage-sama! Is he truly- I thought he looked similar but he truly is the son of our Yondaime?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen merely laughed. "I trust you will keep this between us. You are dismissed, Ibiki."

-ooo-

(Forest of Death)

"Let's GO!"

As Naruto had said those words, they ran past the gates as the sun was setting. Naruto took to the trees, his nose flaring with hundreds of different odours as he took in the _Shi no Mori_ (Forest of Death). The forest was one colossal being full of life; full of different flora and fauna- it was incredible yet its beauty did not hide its dangerousness and its hostile environment. Team Kirabi took to the trees and began jumping from branch to branch in a one row formation they had discussed with their temporary jōnin instructors, Darui and Shi.

The formation was a single file formation with Naruto up front. The blond was up first because he was their "tanker" as Darui had put it. He could use Doton (Earth Release) jutsu for defensive purposes in case they came under attack and had Suiton (Water Release) jutsu in his disposal top subdue their targets. Yugito was second in line as she could support Naruto with a vast array of Raiton (Lightning Release) jutsu to take out their targets and break enemy defenses. Lastly was Hari who had his subconscious focusing constantly on sensing for close by enemies and was a high priority as the medic. It was his job to take care of both this teammates and himself as well as provide support with his destructive fire based techniques. However due to the nature of their environment, Darui had cautioned him to control his fire in case he would start a forest fire.

"Remember to stay in formation and suppress your chakra at all times," Yugito cautioned pulling out the map they been supplied with. They were not in the southern part of the forest, approximately nine miles away from the tower. According to the map there was a stream close by they could make use off.

"It's late already. The sun has set," Hari pointed out. The sky had taken a brilliant blue and orange hue as the sun was setting but now stars appeared in the sky as the sky turned dark blue with a shade of purple. Reaching for his chest Hari held on to the green and silver pendant he had gotten from his younger brother and stuffed it in his pouch he held his three personal sealing scrolls.

In preparation for the Chūnin Exam Naruto had prepared several sealing scrolls for the teams. Individually they all had three scrolls for clothing that could store up to ten different sets of clothing, weaponry scrolls that held up seventy-five kilograms of kunai, shuriken, explosive tags, makibishi and other blades and lastly a personal equipment scroll that stored up to fifty kilograms of personal equipment such as fitted body armour, spare scabbards and books. Naruto had even meticulously colour-coded them as he slaved over these scrolls. And so the clothing scrolls were green, weapons red and personal equipment blue. For the team, Naruto had prepared another two scrolls for storage: equipment and food. The equipment scroll was a thick yellow scroll that contained their campsite equipments ranging from sleeping bags, flash lights, cooking equipment, and dry wood packed in plastic bags, aid kits to battery powered lamps, multiple spray cans to ward off insects to tools to set up traps. Their food scroll contained two weeks' worth of provisions and included giant barrels with attached taps, canned drinks and beans, additional flasks for water, canned foods such as beans and fruit salads and even a freezer that contained packs of salted fish, chicken and beef. One thing was definitely established and that was that Team Kirabi came prepared for this part of the Chūnin Exam.

Naruto hoped branch after branch while suppressing his chakra level carefully. It was a useful technique Kirabi had thought him while they covered chakra control and manipulation when he was a child. Although his chakra control was excellent when he used ninjutsu, most of it was purely out reflex. Naruto would continuously repeat a new ninjutsu and teach his body to recognize how much chakra output was necessary for the jutsu. Not because he was afraid of chakra exhaustion due to the Kyūbi's own limitless chakra to fall back on and the fact his body dealt with chakra exhaustion rather quickly. The reason why Naruto would do this was so that his jutsu wouldn't be overloaded and those beside him and himself would not suffer from painful explosions and chakra burns. Repressing his chakra however was a tough task for Naruto since he had so much chakra to suppress in the first place. Though, he reminded himself with a rather wry expression, it wasn't exactly shinobi like or wise to begin with to be flaring his chakra others from miles away could sense. Hari had mentioned it a few times he could sense Naruto from much longer distances than most people. The only person who had more chakra than him was Kirabi but that due to the fact the Hachibi had been with him for longer.

"Hari?"

"You've done it. Your signal is much weaker."

Naruto sighed relaxing himself and his chakra coils and then looked up ahead and used his strong sense of sense and hearing to detect any teams around him. The team continued travelling at a rushed pace intending to cover as much land as they could before it got too dark. It was an hour or so later after exploring some of the forest they called it quits.

"Time to break for camp," Yugito announced, stopping on a branch with the map in her hand once again. There was enough cover from trees around and there was a stream close by.

Hari stopped on a branch behind Yugito and slapped his hands into a ram hand seal and senses the area. "No other shinobi from what I can tell. We should be careful in case there are shinobi out there suppressing their chakra."

Naruto launched himself over Yugito and stuck to a high branch and hung upside down crossing his arms waiting for instructions. "This a good place? I can smell tons of animals and whatnot."

"As can I," Yugito reminded him. The Nibi had given her a strong sense of smell and hearing much like the Kyūbi had done for Naruto though she wasn't sure whose senses were stronger. "This is a good spot," the kunoichi announced rolling up the map and placing it in her pouch. Aiming to her right she indicated a large tree that towered above others at sixty feet tall and twenty feet in width. On ground level there was a large gap in the tree that went ten feet in height and fifteen in width. It was the perfect camping spot.

Naruto turned, priming his nose one more time for any foreign body odours and shot out of the tree, diving for the small clearing. Naruto focused on his hearing and sense of smell with his eyes closed while Yugito and Hari landed beside him and entered the giant tree cavern. Neither hearing or smelling anyone, Naruto slumped his shoulders dropping his tensed guard and joined his team in setting up the camp and traps around their campsite. By the time they were finished it had begun to pour and they could hear thunderclaps coming from distance.

"Quickly, inside," Naruto told Hari who was making one last sweep on his sensory radar. Naruto slapped his hands together and entangled his fingers to make a serpent hand seal. Chakra flowed throughout his body freely for a split moment as Naruto pushed it into the soil, raising the earth into a ten inch thick wall, "Doton! Doryūheki!"

The cave was illuminated by the battery charged lamps Yugito had placed around in the corners. Naruto took the scroll of her and unsealed all the equipment they would need in an instant. Yugito and Hari were still struggling with unsealing items in bulk at a rapid rate.

"Thank you."

"No problem."

Hari dried of his hair with a towel and slapped it on his shoulder and begun to unseal a package of dry wood to start a fire while Naruto placed a hand on the soil and focused on evening the ground and softening the surface. Yugito in the meanwhile had placed the final touches on their hideout and cast a genjutsu on the earth wall to make it look a part of the tree.

Naruto unzipped his sleeping bag and sat in it, reaching over and setting up the dry wood for Hari to set alight with a small controlled jet fire coming from his mouth. The blond took out his personal equipment scroll and unsealed a fat roll of tickets from it. The tickets were four by two inches and had the kanji for 'Privacy' written on them. They were a convenient way for novices to use his privacy seal since all they to do was rip of a ticket and stick it to a surface where it would burn purple fire for ten minutes and prevent noise emitting from their hideout but not prevent noise being heard on the inside.

"We'll need to make the best of tomorrow considering we had to break for camp much sooner than anticipated," Yugito sat down next to Naruto on his sleeping back rather muddy up her own with her dirty boots. Ignoring the annoyed look Naruto gave her she pressed on, "We'll make use of the headsets tomorrow too, in case we need to split up. Though we should aim to stick together and have meeting places set up in case we do need to split up."

"Sounds good to me," Hari reached into the freeze box he had unsealed and took out a pack of salted fish with sticks and began to prepare their meal. None of them had eaten all day so he figured to break out the 'good stuff' before it got spoiled, although admittedly he didn't know whether sealed foods could spoil. Thinking he ought to ask Naruto about that some time, the genin placed several surfaces over the fire to prevent smoke to emit from their hideout. Naruto's privacy seals apparently absorbed odours at the cost of burning out earlier- again, Hari made a note to find out how Naruto's seals worked.

Naruto shifted his weigh moving away from Yugito a little, an awkward act they both pretended not to notice, and reached in his breast pocket for his handbook on seals. This was the third edition from the volumes he had bought before they embarked on their journey to Konoha.

They sat in silence for the next fifteen minutes while they pretended to be listening to the crispy noise emitted by the fire. Truth be told, they were all deep in thought about the Chūnin Exam. Months ago they had been ecstatic at the prospect of participating and testing their mettle against other chūnin hopefuls. Yet, here they were and already on the second part of the exam, much sooner than they had anticipated. Would they make it, they wondered. Would they find out how far they had gone, and if so, would they be satisfied with the knowledge?

"Thanks, buddy," the Kyūbi no Yokō's _jinchūriki_ said holding up the fist with a curt nod to his best friend. 'Hari makes one mean salted fish on a stick,' Naruto noted munching on the fish whilst eyeing his friend. 'I'll look out for you, pal. You've got my word.'

"Huh? What are you talking about, Naruto?" Hari said with an unnerved laugh wondering what the blond just said out loud.

Yugito actually giggled, "Hari, it looks like he's degenerated so much he can't keep his thoughts in his head."

Hari laughed loudly going into a laughing his fit as he held his sides, his eyes tearing up.

"Yeah, laugh it up! You too Mrs. Gigglepants!" Naruto stood up in shocking realization and pointed at Yugito with comically wide eyes and pointed at her as if a awe struck toddler. "Y- You giggled!"

"I did NOT," Yugito hissed, as though he accused of some heinous crime.

Hari's laughter ceased instantly as he sat up instantly sharing a comical 'shocked and awed' expression with Naruto. "No way!"

"Sh- shut up and finish your food!" Yugito said with a blush flaring up in her cheeks. She never giggled.

"You're blushing! Hahaha!" Naruto pointed at her childishly, going into a fit of his own while Yugito looked away with sour expression and her cheeks a pinkish hue that looked _cute_ rather dismayed. "Oh that's just adorable!"

"Y- You're right! That's cute! Yugito's cute!"

"I said shut up!" Yugito jumped to her feet with lightning sparking from her palms and her eyes shining red like a demon from the Netherworld. The temperature in the cave suddenly dropped as if the fire had burned up. Her teammates simultaneously shot to a corner holding on to each other as they screamed at high pitches as Yugito stepped towards them.

…

Five minutes later after a dosage of electricity and a harsh beating follow by girly screams and Naruto quoting "Oh the humanity" and "Oh lawd" which lead to more electric shocks, Yugito sat on her sleeping bag sighing contently as she nibbled at her salted fish on a stick.

Naruto and Hari looked at her with matching deadpan expressions with balled up pieces of tissues up their noses to stop the bleeding and ice packs attached to her jaws with gauze. "Sh- she's crazy... po- possessed."

"Na- Naruto I'm _scared._"

"What was that?" Yugito curved her head sideways with an uncharacteristically pleasant smile. "Did you say anything?"

"P- Pass the salt please?" Naruto stammered as Hari moved away from him. "Pl- please?"

"You're eating salted fish on a stick. What more salt would you need?"

"Y- You're right, haha taic-" Naruto spotted her narrowing eyes and swallowed thickly bowing his head, "Yugito-senpai!" Naruto and Hari bowed their heads, cowering in fear from the absolute terror that was Nii Yugito. Never again would they repeat the lethal mistake of pointing out her giggles or calling her _cute._

Yugito laughed dropping her fish. It wasn't a chuckle or a giggle, but a real, genuinely infectious laugh. Naruto couldn't help but join her laughing at their stupidity. It was a while before the laughing stopped and they continued their dinner, discussing the Chūnin Exam and specific contenders.

"There's one guy we need to be on the lookout for," Naruto pulled out the card he had taken from Kabuto by force earlier that day and held it up. Met with questioning looks, Naruto explained what had happened. "So this guy, Yakushi, he isn't too strong from what I can tell. I took this off with hardly any effort and he seemed to be scared shitless. Anyway, the guy may not seem strong but he's definitely dangerous. He's got these cards," he held up the card with his picture on it, "That record data on other ninja. Just check what mine reads," Naruto told them passing the card to Yugito.

Yugito eyed the card with much suspicion. "How did he get his hands on this? He's no ordinary genin if he's got this much information on you. It's a little outdated since it lists Shippū Shūren as your latest technique but it's still quite a lot of info," Yugito eyed the card once more and passed it on to Hari.

"I didn't know you could pull of a few Kumo kenjutsu attacks," Hari joked, flicking the card back to Naruto. "How come you never use them when we're sparring? You're not holding back to make me feel better are you?"

"What do you think? I never hold back. Anyway, that's not the point. My point is that we need to keep an eye on this Kabuto douche bag 'cause he can cause a lot of problems for us."

Yugito waved off his concerns. "For now he's got practically nothing on you except for your signature moves. You still have plenty to use against him. It's unfortunate he's got even that but there's not much we can do for now."

"Guess you're right," Naruto pocketed the card with a sigh. Yugito was right, there was nothing he could do for now. He counted himself lucky Kabuto only knew about his techniques up till their mission in _Ritoru Haaku._

"I think it's a pile of bullshit Kirabi-sensei had to include our new jutsu in the report," Hari complained as if reading his mind. "We're supposed to have some degree of secrecy with our own jutsu, aren't we? We _are_ ninja, aren't we?"

"It's protocol. The commanding shinobi must know what their forces are capable of. They assign us missions by our ninjutsu, which is why some teams miss a member once every while. As far as I know, only a few shinobi are given permission to hold hijutsu and ōgijutsu."

"Still stupid if you ask me," Naruto mumbled.

"It's getting late. You two go to sleep, I'll go on guard first," Yugito told them while she unzipped her own sleeping bag and used it as a cushion. "Naruto, you can go second. Hari, Naruto will wake you up when it's his turn."

"I think you should go last instead. I'll go first and Hari can go after me and you go last," Naruto closed the book and shoved it back in his pocket.

"He's right, Yugito. You're our leader so you should be fully rested. At least for tonight, we can change the order once we've gotten used to the surroundings," Hari set the dry wood between rocks and spat a small ball of fire to light them up. Hari reached for a few tins of beans Naruto passed him and looked at Yugito. "Okay, taicho?"

Yugito took a moment before nodding, "Alright. Just for tonight. Tomorrow Naruto goes last one duty and the day after you. We'll take turns for the last shift."

_(TL: Hijutsu translates to 'hidden technique' and ōgijutsu translates to 'secret technique'.)_

-ooo-

The following morning Naruto awoke to the disgusting stench of Hari's toe under his nose. Gasping for clean breathable air he gave the fourteen year old the finger and looked at his digital watch. It was the second of October today which meant it was his fourteenth birthday eight days from now. Wondering what Kirabi would get him this year he got up and accepted the cup of tea Yugito offered him and absent-mindedly wished he wouldn't get another karaoke machine this year. 'Honestly it was more of a gift to himself,' Naruto thought sourly. 'Wait, why am I thinking of Kirabi anyway? That guy ditched us to go on some super secret S-ranked mission… When he gets back, let's see if he likes orange. Really, he should learn by now to keep his shampoo out of sight…'Naruto took a chug of his drink only to violently resist the urge to spew the _hot _tea.

Karma was a bitch.

Naruto picked his nose with his pinkie finger ignoring Yugito's disgusted grimace. It wasn't an attractive habit but Naruto didn't care figuring it wasn't like girls didn't do it. "Say Yugito-"

"We don't."

"Ah," the knucklehead got on his feet wondering how Yugito knew what he was thinking but chalked it up to the fact they had known each other for seven years. Naruto shivered darkly, flashbacks of solid thrashings Yugito had given him when they were younger most definitely were not the best way to start his morning. "What time is it?"

"Six. Get your stuff, we're getting ready to leave," Hari told him gripping on the storage scroll and systematically beginning to seal up all the sleeping backs, water dispensers and lamps.

Naruto yawned as columns of smoke surrounded him and put on his shinobi sandals. By the time he had his ninja-to strapped to his back the cavern was void of their equipment. Naruto lowered the wall, cancelling Yugito's genjutsu with his interference, after Hari had confirmed no one was around.

They travelled a few hundred yards through the forest on the surface before taking to the trees due to a high density of predators coming after them, including a giant bear Naruto had to subdue with a dozen other clones. Naruto tucked the microphone under the neck cover of his flak jacket, stretched his arms, the sleepiness having not quite left him, reached for his flask and took a chug of water. Yugito had Hari scan their location every five minutes. It was putting a considerable strain on him but he gritted his teeth and kept at it.

"Three up ahead!" Hari announced while releasing his hand seal and snapping his eyes open. "They're not a threat from what I can tell, though they could be hiding their chakra signatures." Hari reached for his sword but Naruto held up a hand.

"Leave it to me!" Naruto was fully awake now, ready to move. Banking left and going through a few hand seals while he closed in on the team from Amegakure (Hidden Rain), his chakra levels spiking. "Fūton! Akkai Genshuku!" Naruto jumped out of the tree he had just vacated, climbed thirty feet in the air and began to repeatedly palm strike the air to send a barrage of thirty air bludgeons to hit the Amegakure (Hidden Rain) genin that tore down trees as they struck the earth leaving deep holes.

The air assault caught on off guard and sent him crashing out of the tree into the ground amongst a handful of torn down trees. The female team member shouted out to her leader, who turned around and made a few hand seals and spat a haze of fire towards Naruto. Quick on his feet, the knucklehead ninja made a hand seal and created two Kage Bunshin to pull him aside and pass him onto another clone that seized the momentum and spun the original around and launch him at the Ame genin. Naruto flipped through the air and went for a heel drop but was blocked by the female genin who wielded an umbrella. Naruto shifted his weight and back flipped and drew two kunai and stormed at her and launched a vicious assault with the blades. The girl was hard pressed and fell back with a broken umbrella and a deep cut on her arm. Naruto ducked to the right and rolled on his shoulder to avoid a hail of needles and went through a string of hand seals of his own and took a death breath shouting, "Fūton! Dangan!" The Wind Bullet spun through the air with a screeching noise and smashed into the leader and shot him out of the air causing him to land in a sprawl and nurse his broken ribs.

"Hand over your scroll," Naruto ordered the girl who stepped back in fear and covered her chest. "Hand over your scroll," Naruto repeated forcibly. "You don't want me to take it off you."

"I- I don't have it!" the girl said in panic and backing up to a tree. Her eyes suddenly glinted with relieve and she shouted, "Get him!"

-ooo-

Hari's eyes darted left and right as he sat perched in a tree while Naruto was dispatching the Ame team on his own. Sensing nobody aside from the Ame team and his own, Hari watched the fight. Grinning as Naruto steamrolled the team singlehandedly, Hari looked back to when they were preparing for this day. For months they had trained for the Chūnin Exam, every day and all day, working tirelessly to improve. Hari eyed the genin getting up to attack Naruto from behind and flicked his blade open.

_… Flashback_

"So what are you teaching me today, Darui-sensei?" Hari asked, dropping to the grass with a content sigh. This was one of the few lessons he had with Darui while Naruto was with Kirabi to learn new Fūinjutsu and Shi was teaching Yugito genjutsu. Unable to teach Hari medical jutsu at the same time, it had left him alone with Darui to improve on kenjutsu.

Darui slid his massive broadsword in its sheath strapped to his back. "Huh? I thought you were busy with your kenjutsu style," the sluggish jōnin sat on the ground and yawned tiredly, despite having even broken a sweat in their one-sided duel. All he had to do to beat Hari was remain stationary and block and parry every slash, stab or lunge until he had enough and wanted to end the fight. "Having a tough time?"

"Yup," Hari cracked a smile, although he felt nothing but frustration, ripping grass out the ground. "It's solid in theory, just damn hard in actual practice. It's complicated."

"Would help if you explained what it was you were trying to achieve. I'm here to help," Darui yawned.

Hari chuckled, "Sorry, Darui-sensei. I want to keep it a secret so I can defeat you one day. I'll get it eventually, but in the meanwhile… you can teach me something else? The Cloud kenjutsu style is effective against normal fighters but I keep meeting stronger and stronger people. I need something that doesn't rely on power but on speed."

"Oh?" Darui got back up and smiled lazily. "Then I've got just the thing."

"Really, Darui-sensei?" Hari stood with a excited grin. "What kind of technique is it?"

"It's not a technique, Hari. It's a whole new kenjutsu style that relies on speed and precision. Many samurai practice it. I may not look like it, but I occasionally make use of it against opponents stronger than me."

"What's it called?"

"Iaidō."

_… End Flashback_

Hari grinned predatorily, flicking the ninja-to back into its sheath and darted out of the tree at an amazing speed.

-ooo-

"Get him!"

Naruto turned around to see the genin he had taken out by surprised raise a kunai but before he could move Hari shot past him and the male, landing in a crouch and sheathing his blade as he genin fell down in a shower of blood.

"Iaidō! Senkō Giri!"

"No!" the girl shrieked in hysteria, "No!"

Naruto turned back to the girl closing in on her and looked her in the eye. "Hand over your scroll and I'll let you guys leave."

"N- no! You're not going to let us live, are you? Y- You're just gonna take my scroll an- and kill us! For all I know, th- the second I give you our scroll you'll kill me or w- worse!"

"No, he's not," Yugito refuted, replying for Naruto as she landed next to Hari and nodded to him, giving him the signal to check up on the genin he had cut down. "We're here for your scroll, not for your life. As for _that_, these guys aren't like that."

"Wh- what are you doing to him?" the girl shouted at Hari, whose hand had started to glow with green chakra.

"Don't worry, he's just stopping the bleeding," Yugito waved off her concerns dismissively and stepped forward, brushing Naruto aside and locked eyes with the girl. "Now, your scroll, hand it over."

"Do as they say," the leader of the team croaked. "We can still retrieve ours, just let them have the scroll- ugh." Naruto's attacked seemed to have taken it out of him as the genin passed out.

The girl pulled out their scroll and passed it to Yugito, "Th- there you go!" The scroll turned out to be another Earth scroll but Yugito pocketed nonetheless. "Pl- please just let us go."

Yugito merely nodded and stepped aside. "Hari."

"Just a second," Hari continued to stop the bleeding and close the wounds and stood up, the green chakra dissipating from his hand. Hari gave his handiwork a quick look over and nodded and then turned to the girl and tossed the strip of painkillers. "He shouldn't move too much, my partner went a little overboard and probably broke two or three ribs. You should clean your own wounds too in case they get infected, which is guaranteed with the humidity of this forest."

"Th- thank you," the girl stammered as she caught the painkillers and popped it opened to give a few to their leader before taking one herself. Hari and Yugito took the trees but as Naruto jumped up she cried out, "Wait!"

Naruto looked at her whilst his teammates paused on their branches, "What is it?"

"Wh- why did you help us? Wh- why did you treat their wounds after defeating them? It doesn't make sense!"

Naruto merely grinned and winked at her. "There's a lotta pressure riding on this exam, but that doesn't mean we should lose our way. I'm not here to kill anyone, simply to win." Naruto didn't wait for a reply and took to the trees and left the girl with her disbelieving expression.

_(Iaidō! Senkō Giri - Draw and Re-sheath Art! Flashing Slash!)_

-ooo-

Naruto jumped over the branches and overtook Yugito, retaking his place in their formation. The sun had settled high in the sky now and was glowing brilliantly. "Fat load of good that did us," Naruto continued his frog like leaps from branch to branch.

"It's not a complete loss," Yugito consoled him and pulled out the Earth scroll they had taken from the other team. "If the need arises, we could simply trade scrolls or prevent another team from succeeding."

There was irrefutable logic and that so Naruto let it go with a simple nod. There would be enough time to capture the other three scrolls. Naruto looked up to the sky and noted the clouds forming. "Not good," Naruto frowned, "Looks like we're going to experience a storm soon."

"We should find some shelter. I can't use my Raiton jutsu out in the open," Yugito said. They already had an additional scroll, they could afford this break she told herself as Naruto led them to shelter and the clouds began to rumble.

Rain soon followed.

"So Naruto, what's with this Uchiha Sasuke guy?" Hari asked loudly over the pouring rain and thunder.

"Huh?" Naruto kept his eyes on the branches in front of him while sniffing the air every so often before the rain erased all odours. What _was_ the deal with Sasuke, he asked to himself. Naruto chuckled and laughed rather that giving a straight answer. "Why do you ask?"

"You seem to be focused on him a lot. Did you know him?"

"He's the guy I'm the most interested in fighting," Naruto looked over his shoulder with huge grin. "He's the guy I hate the most!" Naruto sped his pace and paying his teammates' confused faces no heed and laughed to himself with an unusual sense of happiness and contentment mixed with excitement.

He could still clearly remember the days when he would watch Sasuke from afar. Never approaching him, but always watching. Naruto felt drawn to the Uchiha scion ever since he could remember, even before the Uchiha Massacre. Naruto could relate to Sasuke despite them being completely different in every possible way. Yet, the blond thought, in more ways than one he was exactly the same as Sasuke. They both knew the relentless pain of loneliness. What it meant to feel solitary and abandoned without any out there to truly understand them. They once shared anger at the world for their loneliness and pain of such magnitude it was unbearable. _"I wonder if he's still the same. Has he let go of his hate like I did or did he embrace it?"_

Naruto continued to head the formation north of the Shi no Mori. The trees began to become denser and closer to each other they had to keep talking at a minimum to focus on their branch hoping. Naruto spotted several foxes below them. They fled once he locked eyes with them. Apparently having a giant fox as your tenant didn't ease their fear, Naruto cracked a smile at the irony. The prankster smelled the stench of blood in the distance through the pouring rain.

"Up ahead, Hari."

The brown haired genin nodded and made a hand seal to focus on his sensory skills. Hari looked at Naruto and Yugito and held up three fingers and then all five fingers to indicate a fifty yard distance. Naruto nodded to him questioningly as if to ask whether it was safe to attack to which Hari nodded confidently.

Naruto stopped on a branch with Yugito crouching to him and Hari next to her a moment later. "I'm smelling blood and gun powder. They might be the types that overdo it with the explosives. Yugito go from the right, I take them from the left. Hari, I'm counting on you to light them up while we get them close to each other. Try not to kill them."

A thunderclap roared in the sky as if a giant beast hid behind the clouds.

"No," a drenched Yugito said firmly and turned to Hari and placed a hand on his shoulder and gripped it tightly as she locked eyes with him. "Aim to kill. We can't afford to pull any punches." Yugito's tone was ice cold, far colder than the rain and fiercer than the thunder, and thoroughly unnerved her teammates and she was aware of this. "Shinobi must forget about compassion and their emotions on the battlefield. This is a battlefield, you two."

Naruto swallowed thickly. She was jaded, she always had been but did she mean it for real? "Yugito-"

"Aim to kill," she cut him off before disappearing to ambush their targets from the right with her ninja-to already drawn.

Naruto did attempt to call her back and nodded to Hari, "She's the boss," he told him before placing his hand on his own ninja-to handle and diving out to another tree to get into ambush position.

…

_"I'm in position. Wait for my signal, over."_

Naruto tapped the headset button on his neck, relieved it was water proof, "I'm in position. What about you, Hari? Over." He could see the team of Iwa (Rock) shinobi preparing their lunch. Naruto spotted the source of the blood he smelled: a few freshly slaughtered boars were strung up to a tree close to them. Oddly enough the genin team were apparently confident enough to have their meal out in the open under the rain and thunderclouds. Naruto spotted two bulky looking shinobi clad in brown shinobi garb sit on a fallen tree with a slim female dressed in brown shinobi garb. From what Naruto could see and hear the males appeared to be attempting to persuade the girl to take care of their 'morning wood' (ironically enough it was already noon) whilst fondling her with their grubby paws. Naruto felt nauseated, wondering why the girl merely giggled.

_"I'm ready whenever you are, over."_

Naruto took a deep breath and exhaled slowly to calm his nerves and to harden his resolve. The exam was truly a battlefield like Yugito had said and as a shinobi he could not afford to hesitate, not even for a second. This was what it meant to be a true ninja. _"You can do this, Uzumaki. You can do this!"_ The ninja-to slid out of his scabbard gleaming brightly under the leaves, the rain and the thunder clouds' brilliant flashes of light.

_"They're breaking their camp. Now is our chance!"_

Naruto's eyes snapped open and he launched himself out of the tree with his ninja-to drawn towards the group of genin and landed with a loud thud on the grass in front of them. "Yo."

-ooo-

"Yo." Naruto took a offensive stance while Yugito appeared on the other side of the Iwa shinobi's campsite. "We're here for your scrolls. Do me and yourselves a favour and hand them over."

The Hidden Stone genin jumped off their makeshift bench and got in position. Naruto grinned ferociously but quickly wiped the smile of his face when he noticed only the girl was facing him and the two brutes walked over to Yugito licking their lips as if they saw a tasty treat.

"Looks like action found us. About time, I was getting sick of tending to those two's needs. My hips still hurt," the young woman said pulling down her hood and sensually rubbing her thighs. She was a blond haired kunoichi with green eyes, full lips and glasses that accentuated her sexual appeal.

"Wh- What?" Naruto's face flared up at the woman's callous statement. "Their ne- needs? Your hips- what the fuck are you talking about?" Naruto flared loosening his grip on his blade in his outburst. He had heard Iwagakure was strict on the old traditions but kunoichi still being used for sexual desires was mind boggling.

"Oh that's right!" the kunoichi placed a hand on her mouth and giggled, her voice at a high pitch. "Kumo doesn't enforce the old tradition, do they? A shame, your partner has quite the body as you would know, no doubt."

"Shut the fuck up!"

The kunoichi stopped rubbing her thighs and placed her finger on her chin as if in thought. "What do you do to, you know, release tension? A quick jerk off, the good old 'Chokin' the Chicken' while she's sleeping, mhm?"

The young ninja shouted at her with a furious blush, "Shut up! There's no tension! Zero tension! TENSION IS A MYTH!" Naruto screamed at her, raising his blade above him and charging at the kunoichi for an overhead slash to cut her down.

The kunoichi effortlessly side-stepped the attack and stepped forward and brushed her hair behind her ear and gripped onto Naruto's manhood. "Still a virgin then? How cute," her eyes narrowed instantly however as shot out a kunai from her sleeve and held it in reverse grip. "I _hate_ virgins."

"You're fucking crazy!" Naruto said jumping backwards with a slash at her hand and batting the kunai aside with his blade. The young ninja held up his blade in a horizontal guard, sliding into an offence kata and charged at her at an impressive speed. Naruto sure he had hit landed a clean hit but it turned out to be a clone. The real enemy appeared from behind throwing a hail of kunai at the blond. Naruto rested his ninja-to on his right should and threw a hail of shuriken with his left hand, causing the projectiles to ricochet of each other and fall to the ground. Whoever she was, Naruto knew she was not to be underestimated. A sudden heat wave indicated Hari had joined the battle, having thrown their plan to the winds and launched a barrage of fire balls instead. Naruto sighed in relieve knowing he could focus on his own opponent now and charged his left arm while whispering, "Shippū Shūren." His left arm was swallowed by a massive wind drill that screeched softly through the wind. Naruto raised his arm and swiped it his left, cracking the mound of earth it looked at. "Let's get started, baita!"

"The name's Kōgyoku," she growled reaching down to the surface and pulled at the mud. The mud shifted and spiraled upwards and formed into a large katana with a vicious curve. "Tsuchi no Yaiba! Let's see what you got, Dokuo!"

_(TL: Dokuo translates to 'male virgin'. Baita translates to 'loose woman' or more commonly, 'slut.')_

Naruto shot forward to meet in a class shouting, "Stop calling me a virgin, you BAITA!" The impact of the crash was significantly more than his female adversary had braced herself for and a result she was sent flying back and was about to into a tree but she swiftly twirled midair and landed in a crouch against the tree, cracking it slightly on impact. She saw the tip of her earth blade fly through the air and land behind Naruto, causing her to curse and examine her own blade before charging at her opponent, throwing another hail of kunai with her left whilst dragging what remained of her Earth Blade through the ground to repair it. Naruto moved his ninja-to effortlessly, deflected the projectiles blade and blocked Kōgyoku's smash-like swipe at his face his Hurricane Drill encased arm with ease, Raising his ninja-to he attempted slash down on her, aiming to crack open her head but only managed to cause a deep gash down the side of her bespectacled face due to her quick reflexes. Naruto pressed on and stomp kicked her in the abdomen and sent her crashing to the ground however before she touched the ground he shot forward and raised his ninja-to and cut the Tsuchi no Yaiba from the hilt. By the time Kōgyoku fell on her back and struggled to open her eyes, he rested his Shippū Shūren close to her face, indicating he had won and discouraging her from attempting to further retaliate.

"I surrender," she stuttered.

"Yeah you do," Naruto's wind drill disappeared with a low screech whilst Naruto placed his arm on his hip and his ninja-to on his shoulder, laughing loudly. "Who's the virgin now, huh?"

Kōgyoku sweat-dropped feeling an immense shame she had just lost to perhaps the biggest moron she had ever met, including her two brutish teammates. "No... you're still the virgin you know? Winning this fight doesn't make any difference as to your virginal status-"

"Shut up, I'm trying to bask in glory! Hohahaha!" Naruto laughed loudly rubbing his finger his nose and pulling a moronic expression. While he celebrated he suddenly felt a chakra spike behind him and quickly turned to see one of the brutes who was bleeding profusely and sporting flesh burns raising a giant boulder he expected to be a Doryō Dango the size of a small house and throw it at Yugito who had her back turned to him to finish Hari finish of the last one. "YUGITO!" Naruto shouted out aiming his hands at the brutish genin's back and shooting the strongest Shūrai he had ever done. The Lightning Bolt shot out of the palms of his hands, the size of a thick water stream, and flew at the brute's back at hit him directly shocking the brute so much he could no longer support the giant Earth Mausoleum Dumpling and dropped it, crushing himself on the crushing weight. Naruto sighed in relieve feeling completely _drained _from the sudden lightning jutsu and slumped over and fell to his knees, nearly falling over. He was twitching with lightning sparks and his insides felt fried. He got up struggling and waved at them however with his bloodied and burned hands. Yugito and Hari shouted, "WATCH OUT!" but it was already too late. Kōgyoku had taken the opportunity she saw and picked up the ninja-to he had dropped and ran it through Naruto's back in a shower of rain and blood.

"Goodbye!"

The world went dark for Naruto. The last thing he could hear before he fell were the cries of his teammates.

"NARUTO!"

-ooo-

(Ten minutes earlier)

Yugito gripped the ninja-to in her hands tightly, her arrows narrowed while the two brutish genin approached her. They towered over her in height easily at seven foot tall. Yugito noted they looked to be in their early twenties, an unusually high age for genin and their dark skin tone and matte grey hair made them resemble golems.

"Yo, nee-chan," one of them said as he linked his lips with longing as he approached her with his large paw like hands outstretched. If you let us hit it a few times and ger' rid of our mornin' wood we'll let you and yer midget friend live. Wha' de yer say? We'll be gentle, I promise."

Yugito's eyes darkened and her grip on her blade tightened. In the blink an eye she had post past the brute and sliced the skin under his eye open. Yugito landed in a crouch, her eyes widening when she was the brutish genin and his twin dip his fingers in his own blood and lick at it. _"What are these monsters?" _Yugito regained her composure and her eyes darted around looking over at Naruto fighting the female briefly before she turned back to the two brutes. "Guess it can't be helped," Yugito sheathed her blade and pulled on second pair of rubber gloves while she channeled chakra to her finger tips. "Raigan!" bolts of electricity shot from her index and middle finger and hit the brothers who held up their arms to defend themselves. Yugito held up the barrage for a few moments before ceasing her Lightning Gun and waited for the smoke to clear up. There was no way anyone could survive a barrage of her Lightning Gun bullets.

"Oi, nee-chan, it'll take a lot more than that to defeat the Obake Kyōdai!" said the younger looking twin as the smoke cleared up. He grinned at her with a twisted expression and cracked his fists. "Looks like we'll have to take you by force! OUARGH!" the brute bent over and grabbed at the earth and pulled out an earth boulder the side of Yugito and threw it at her.

Yugito charged her left fist with lightning chakra and jumped to meet the boulder midair and ran over it and launched herself at the younger Demon Brother and smashed her fist in his eyes shouting, "Raiken!" The Lightning Fist cracked the brute's face bones and mutilated his face and left him howling in pain while Yugito back flipped gracefully to avoid an earth spear thrown at her. Yugito sprinted at the older brother as soon as she landed and charged another Raiken in her hand and launched herself ten feet in the air with a chakra enhanced length. Just as she brought her sparkling fist down on the older brother she felt something grip on to her ankle monstrous roar, "AYARGH!"

Yugito flew so fast through the air she couldn't possibly move out of the way and avoid the boulder she was flying at. Yugito closed her eyes bracing herself significant pain but only heard a rush of wind and a grunt when she crashed into a rather soft in comparison surface. Opening her eyes she was caught midair by Hari who had appeared to save her and held her under his left arm as he reared back his head and spat out a gulf of fire. "Katon! RYŪKA NO JUTSU!"

Hari fell wheezed in pain and dropped Yugito rather unceremoniously. "That took the wind out of me!" The genin dropped to a knee and held his ribs and coughed a spatter of blood.

"Hari!" Yugito got up gripping onto Hari but he pushed her away shaking his head. She then saw he was already busy healing himself as green chakra emitted out of his hand. Yugito berated herself for underestimating the Obake no Kyōdai from Iwagakure. "Can you fight?" Yugito asked sheathing her ninja-to and pulling her gloves on tighter. "These two are no intellect whatsoever but they are extremely strong."

The Goblin Brothers had protected themselves from the Dragon Fire by erecting up a double layered Doryūheki, although the walls had collapsed a split second they had escaped the fire.

Hari leaned onto his blade's scabbard and struggled to his feet still coughing a little and nodded to Yugito, already smiling and shaking with what he knew was excitement. "I got the one on the left."

Yugito nodded, "Alright. I'll watch your back and you watch mine. I will have to go all out on these two if we want to put them out for good," Yugito paused a moment as she put on another pair of gloves, noting she was running out of rubber gloves she asked Hari, "Can you do it? Can you kill them?"

"Yes," Hari said without a sign of wavering in his voice. The ninja got up and stood next to the kunoichi and held sheathed his prized ninja-to in front of him and hung it under his belt. "Let's go!" Hari rushed forward simultaneously with Yugito and focused chakra to his arms and legs. "HYAH!" Hari's feet carried him faster than he had anticipated, however this technique was far from completion. As he made his mad dash towards his opponent Hari jumped forward between the brothers, his blade unsheathed for the briefest of moments gleaming blindingly under the thunderclouds' blinding light. Hari touched down on the ground, dragging across the earth due to his speed, his facial expression was one of absolute concentration. Hari slid his blade back into its scabbard.

_Click!_

"Iaidō! Hitotachi!"

_(Jutsu: Iiadō! Hitotachi - Stroke of the Blade!)_

A rain of blood followed the sickening noise of flesh and bone being ripped when Hari turned around. A giant forearm flew through the air and spurted blood all over. Hari's eyes had become cold and calculative as he stood as a true warrior of the blade. Not once in the months of training had Hari neglected his sword training. Everything about his posture indicated he was level-headed. The genin did not move as the brute cried out to the skies holding his stump and screaming to his younger brother, "GANBAN!"

"GANSEKI- AURAGH!"

Yugito silenced the younger brother with a Raikyū to his massive neck and toppled the giant, jumping off him before he landed with a loud thud that shook the ground. Yugito peeled the dripping rubber that had been right glove of her right hand and pulled on another pair of gloves while Hari appeared next to her, both of them watching Ganban crawl over to his older brother, Ganseki. Both of the giants were in tears and bleeding.

Yugito watched them coldly uncaring to their pain. "You lose," she said with her impassive tone aiming her palm at Ganseki and charging lightning to her hand.

Hari's hand shot out and grabbed on to her wrist. Ignoring the stinging pain he looked at her and shook his head. "This is not the kind of shinobi we are, Yugito. Not me, not Naruto and not you," Hari let go of her hand and gripped her by the shoulder. "You're the too focused on making yourself prepared to kill or be killed, but you forget that is not always the only option. Being prepared to kill someone is fine, but that doesn't mean we should make a point of killing whoever we fight here."

Yugito cancelled her fishing move and brushed Hari's hand of her shoulder. "That's not why I was going to kill them." In truth, she wanted to kill them to prevent these beasts to force themselves on any other female genin in the forest. Yugito felt physically ill being even remotely close to these Iwagakure genin, however she sighed and mumbled, "It is of no importance" when Hari gave her a curious look.

Suddenly the earth shifted under them and before Yugito could move Hari took her by surprise and kicked her back, saving her from the earth spike only to have his left arm pierced through. Hari screamed out in horrible pain and dropping his blade and fell back.

With his last breath Ganseki charged at him however he was stopped by Yugito whose chakra spiked tremendously as she screamed, "Katon! Hōenka no Jutsu!" The Flame Flower enveloped the elder Demon Brother causing him to scream out in pain before he fell forward as his eyes rolled to back of his head. He was dead before he hit the ground, burnt to a crisp. His enormous body was still on fire after his death being burned by the Flame Flower.

Yugito ran over to Hari, her breath raspy as she inspected the collapsed genin's gruesome arm injury. She helped up Hari and ripped open his shirt and refused to gag at the revolting sight of tore up flesh and shattered bone clearly visible under the bloody appendage that was Hari's arm.

Hari shouted out in pain as soon as Yugito touched his arms and swore profoundly under his breath. "It's okay, I've got it. Inspect your own wounds, I can take care of it."

Yugito shook her head, smiling softly. Even when in so much pain Hari tried to be tell her to back off in the nicest of ways. Figuring she would let their team medic heal himself she reached for a bottle of painkillers she had in her pouch. As she dug into her pouch she heard a monstrous, ear splitting roar. Yugito's eyes widened as she turned around to see Ganban hoisting a ball of earth the size of a small house.

"YUGITO!"

A flash of light blinded Yugito. As she and Hari covered their eyes they could hear a colossal thump and the ground shake. By the time they could see they found Naruto half slumped and his hands steaming even from the distance.

Yugito felt a relieved smile creep up to her face when she suddenly saw Naruto's opponent dart for the ninja-to Naruto must have dropped and stab Naruto through the back.

"NARUTO!"

-ooo-

(Team Kirabi Hideout)

It was in the afternoon when Naruto woke up with a groan to a crisping noise and warmth. Naruto looked up seeing a faint light out of the corner of his eyes. Fire. Its warmth was welcomed but he did not particularly enjoy having the light destroy his retinas. Naruto shuffled his weight, pulling his blanket over his shoulder and turned his head on his pillow and groaned contently until he suddenly felt the a jolt of pain in his chest. Feeling as if he had just stabbed himself, Naruto instinctively reached for the source of his pain under his blanket. _"Wet?" _Naruto's eyes fluttered as he inspected his palm to find it completely drenched with blood. As if triggered, his body screamed out in pain making Naruto involuntary arch and cough blood repeatedly as he tried to desperately breathe. Suddenly his pillow moved from under him-

Naruto's eyes bulged finding himself staring into Yugito's dark orbs distantly noting he had been resting his head on her lap while he struggled controlling himself as the pain shocked his body. A tearing sound indicated he had ripped his stitches that Hari must have sown.

"Hari, he's awake, get over here!"

There was a rustling and call back that sounded muffled. Had Naruto not in pain he would have concluded Hari was outside of their hideout on guard duty, unfortunately for the young shinobi this was not the case. The pain increased so much Naruto's hand shot out and gripped onto Yugito's hand and he held it tightly. Yugito held onto his hand, attempting to ease him back into the bed.

"My che- chest!" Naruto wheezed finding it harder to breath with every word. He couldn't breathe, even the slightest inhale felt like he was getting stabbed in the chest.

"Calm down!" Yugito said forcibly forcing him down and ignoring his yelp. The kunoichi forced chakra her arms and held the genin pinned down. "Naruto- Naruto, listen to me carefully. You were stabbed from the back and you had a collapsed lung. You need to stay _still_ otherwise breathing will be next to impossible."

Naruto slowly nodded feeling Yugito take his hand in her own soft grasp. Yugito sighed in relief pulling back his hair. Naruto could not for the life of him remember the last time he had ever seen her so worried- especially about him. He shifted his head comfortably in her lap, noticing she had dirt on her cheeks and not caring; she looked beautiful regardless. "W- water," Naruto rasped, his throat parched after nearly coughing up a lung in his fit.

Yugito nodded to Naruto and got up and laid him down while shouting, "Hari, get in here!" at the Earth Style Wall she had erected. Naruto remembered teaching her that jutsu when it had proven difficult for her.

A moment later Hari emerged from the ground, nearly sending Naruto another surprise-induced coughing fit. Hari grumbled something Yugito for not retracting the wall and quickly picked up his medic kit from the floor kneeled down by Naruto and said smiling, "Naruto buddy you lung collapsed. Try not to breathe too deeply okay?"

"Tell him something he doesn't know by now," Yugito spat at him returning with a flask of water, sitting down on Naruto's other side. She gently lifted his head and rested it on her elbow and tipped some water down his lips, washing away the coppery taste of blood and moistening his parched throat.

Naruto nodded indicating he had enough after two cups and chuckled, locking eyes with Yugito directly and wincing every once in a while when Hari's examination of his wound would give a jolt of pain.

"What's so funny?" Yugito asked him gently resting his head against her wondering how the knucklehead could possibly be laughing in his state.

Naruto chuckle died in his throat as he grunted in pain, a smile etched on his face nonetheless. "You're worried about me. That's not like you, haha-" Naruto slipped into another coughing fit but recovered quickly. "I didn't know you cared," Naruto sounded as if he was mocking her, yet they both knew there was a true sense of relief in his statement.

"Shut up," Yugito told him pressing embracing his head to her chest and sighing in relief. "If you die, Kirabi-sensei, Hari, Raiden-sama, Darui-senei and Shi-sensei and a lot more people will be sad."

"Including you?" Naruto sounded weak, as though he was slipping back into unconsciousness. His brief time awake had taken its toll on him already.

"Yes, me too," Yugito told him softly, "Now go to sleep," she told him, letting out of the embrace and allowed him to rest on her lap for the duration of Hari's inspection.

Hari hid his smile while Yugito stroked Naruto's locks. _"About time she admitted she cared about him," _genin smile's expanded into a grin as he cleaned his best friend's wound with disinfectant. _"You sure did worry us this time, Naruto." _Hari's expression darkened remembering what had triggered Naruto's actions in the first place.

"What is it, Hari?" Yugito read his expression as an open book. Months of being both teammates and friends had brought them together. Yugito could tell what her teammates feeling simply by looking at her faces. She chalked it up to her observant trait due to the Nibi. "What happened, it wasn't your fault."

"Yes, it was," Hari answered forcibly finishing up with Naruto's stitches and looking up at Yugito. "If I had let you finish off those two like you wanted to this wouldn't have happened!" Hari got up and paced their tree cavern angrily. "If I hadn't fucking told you to let them live they wouldn't have attacked us and Naruto sure as hell wouldn't have end up with a collapsed lung! FUCK!" Hari turned to the wall and punched it with all his might, sinking his fist through the earth wall. "It's my fault... all of it," he repeated.

"You were right to stop me," Yugito told him firmly. She tightened her grip on Naruto's hand. "I was going to kill those two in case they- in case they got their hands on one of the other girls out there in forest. Just thinking of what they said to me makes me sick. I wanted to kill them for it."

Hari said nothing and began to submerge through the ground, "I'll be on guard. Keep an eye on him for me, will you? If he wakes up again or his wounds open, don't shout for me. I've got my headset with me."

Yugito looked at the ground where Hari had stood before he sunk through the ground and looked back to Naruto and continued to play with his locks. "Why isn't the Kyūbi healing you, Naruto?" Yugito had often experienced it when the Nibi would punish her by making her suffer from her wounds to learn or lesson or it would have difficulties finding the source of her injuries but Naruto on the other hand always healed almost instantaneously if it was a life threatening wound like this. "Is the Kyūbi teaching you a lesson?"

* * *

**_Author's Notes_**

What. Up.

Daniel 29correctly pointed out that Naruto tends to flirt and make callous comments to most women he knows. That's very true; Naruto doesn't quite know how to talk to girls so he sticks to jokes and compulsively asking them to go out with him on dates. _He's hardly ever serious when he's asking out girls. _It's more of a defense mechanism for him to avoid emotional confrontation. As you know, Naruto's got very limited experience with women at this stage and considering he's been living with Kirabi, who expresses his emotions through his fists, you can imagine how much further he's been stunted.

**Easter eggs!** Last chapter quite a few missed out on references I left out. The one I thought was most obvious was the question about seals regarding Ikamuzu Irrotah – which is Uzumaki Hattori written backwards! Then there was the gate number for Team Kirabi, which was number 25. In the anime, episode 25 is when they enter the Forest of Death! Ha, none of you caught on (although that was ridiculously random).

Remember reviews make me happy!

…

**Jutsu Used:**

_(Jutsu: Doton! Doryūheki no Jutsu – Earth Style Wall!) - B rank, defensive, short range. This ninjutsu is used to defend against an incoming attack by creating a solid wall of earth. Chakra is converted to earth within the body and then spat out. This earth then instantly rises up and takes form. The barrier itself is also coated with chakra, making its strength incomparable to that of a normal mud wall. Because of the earth's special characteristics, the wall is highly resistant against, for instance, fire and water._

_(Jutsu: Fūton! Dangan – Bullet!) - C rank, offensive, mid range. The Bullet is a powerful, grapefruit-sized ball of wind spat from the mouth using the wind element. It's powerful enough to penetrate trees and even crack boulders. If one were to experience a direct hit, death or long term convalescence are like to follow._

_(Iaidō! Senkō Giri (Draw and Re-sheath Art! Flashing Slash) – ? rank, offensive, close range. A technique Hari has learned under Darui's tutelage; the Senkō Giri is a technique that requires the user to withdraw his blade, slash at the opponent and re-sheath the blade instantaneously. Due to its quick motion, it appears to be to a flashing as it moves. **Parent jutsu:** Iaidō (Draw and Re-sheath Art)._

_(Jutsu: Shūrai no Jutsu – Lightning Bolt!) – A rank, offensive, long ranged. The Shūrai no Jutsu is Yugito's first original technique. This technique does not require hand seals, but is more less chakra taxing with it. Yugito summons an enormous amount of chakra into her hands, instantly converts it to lightning chakra and shoots it off as lightning bolt. Despite its name, it not as powerful or as fast as a real lightning bolt or as fast. Nonetheless, this technique is extremely powerful and heavy on chakra taxation and can shoot up to five hundred meters distance. Yugito has since creation passed this jutsu on to one other person: Uzumaki Naruto._

_(Jutsu: Tsuchi no Yaiba - Earth Blade!) – C rank, supplementary, ? range. A common jutsu taught by jōnin to their genin teams to create substitute weapons of earth when in short or no supply of actual weapons. The user focuses chakra on the earth to spiral upwards to form into a blade type weapon, most commonly a ninja-to or katana._

_(Jutsu: Doryō Dango - Earth Mausoleum Dumpling!) - B rank, offensive, short to mid range. With chakra work and superhuman strength, shinobi are able to lift up the very surface of the Earth. The lump of earth is gigantic and, the destructive power is obvious, but even just the visual impact can be enough to make enemies lose their fighting spirits and run away. The ball of earth is then hurled it at his opponent, flattening everything in its path._

_(Jutsu: Iaidō! Hitotachi - Stroke of the Blade!) – ? rank, offensive, close range. The second technique Hari learned of the Iadō kenjutsu style. A rather simple technique in theory, yet proving difficult for many seasoned swordsman. Hari unsheathes his blade and stroke the blade in an odd curve. This technique depends on fluid movements and high precision and is used to dismember limbs. **Parent jutsu:** Iaidō (Draw and Re-sheath Art)._

_(Jutsu: Katon! Hōenka no Jutsu – Flame Flower!) - C rank, offensive, mid to long range. The Flame Flower is a relatively simple Katon jutsu that requires the user to spit fire in the shape of flowers. This jutsu resembles the Hōsenka due to its similar nature. _

* * *

**Kumo Nin Character Corner**

Name: Yamaken Takezo.

Alias(es): Takeshi Takezo.

Date of Birth: August 18th.

Age: Forty-five.

Blood Type: B.

Affiliation(s): Akumu Shokō, Yama-Ken Clan.

Occupation: Samurai.

Rank: None.

Classification: A-ranked samurai.

Bounty: Two million ryō.

Mini biography: Yama-Ken Takezo, or as preferred Takeshi Takezo, was already a renown samurai before he was approached by the Akumu Shokō. He was known for his exploits across the regions. He had spent many years being a wandering samurai, learning under notable figures such as Torimaru, the blade master of the east and Kendo, the legendary smith that travelled in the south. Takezo left his clan at the age of twenty-eight, tired of their tireless arguments and changed his last name to Takeshi to become his own man, free from his clan once proud warrior clan. Takeshi lives by his personal honour code, however he broke down in tears when confronted by Naruto who painfully pointed out he had broken his own honour code by affiliating himself with the Akumu Shokō who had their samurai kill the villagers, take their women and plunder their village. Takeshi Takezo does not believe in suppressing one's emotions and will there for always encourage those to give it their all and fuel their power with their emotions. Currently Takezo is serving a life sentence in Kumogakure's high security prison for chakra using enemies of state.

Weapon: Takenzo makes use of a Kyōsei Ken named Tsuchi Kuma. In Hakkei Release form it takes the form of a giant bear that can turn into mud as well as rock and use this to change it shape in battle.

Nature Type: Earth.

Fighting Style_:_ Takezo is proficient with Doton jutsu however relies mostly only his Kyōsei Ken, Tsuchi Kuma, who is very affectionate towards him. With his blade Takezo manipulates the earth around him to use in battle.

Techniques (2):

Hakkei (Release of Internal Power), Tomeoku (Detain).


	18. An All Out Battle in the Forest of Death

**Kumogakure Ninja**

Posted: 18-03-11

Updated: 28-06-11

* * *

CH18: An All Out Battle

* * *

(The Forest of Death)

The Jōhyō wrapped itself around Naruto's wrist, causing him to drop to his knee instantly feeling the drowsiness it caused him to feel wear him down. Naruto growled tiredly in an attempt to get back on his feet as he tugged onto the Rope Dart. The Kirigakure genin was smart. Instead of fighting him head on, she had resorted to using her Jōhyō to subdue him like a wild animal that had to be tranquilized before taken down. The weapon induced drowsiness upon skin contact, a quite impressive tool Naruto would have admitted if it hadn't been used on him.

The kunoichi smirked with satisfaction, however Naruto was much more valiant than she had expected, judging from her soon unnerved expression as she called for her remaining teammate to pick up her other male genin that had been taken out by the blond earlier. "This guy is crazily strong, I don't know how long I can keep him down. Get Genji and let's GO! We already got his scroll!"

"ARGH!" Naruto tugged on to the Jōhyō aggressively, reminding himself his ambushers had taken his scroll. Naruto cursed his luck for once again he had been forced to fight a devious woman. As if on cue, his chest began to hurt once again and his wounds began to bleed. Wondering why he always had to fight 'chicks' and why in the hell the Kyūbi had not healed him yet Naruto roared angrily, breaking the drowsy spell with his rage. "Come here!" Naruto grabbed onto the rope dart with two hands and tugged it so violently he yanked the Kiri kunoichi across the dirt and kneed her in the stomach. The kunoichi lurched, gasping for air and in pain as her eyes widened. Naruto wrapped the Jōhyō around her and ripped the poisonous dart off the tip.

"Let her go you bastard!"

Naruto ignored the kunoichi's teammate and lifted her above him with one hand and chucked her into the stream to his left. Appearing next to the tied up kunoichi in a blink of an eye Naruto grasped her by her forehead, "Suirō no Jutsu!" The water from the riverbed swept up and collided onto the kunoichi and formed a cocoon. Having safely secured the kunoichi in his Water Prison, Naruto dropped to one knee cursing himself under his breath for leaving the hideout where he was _supposed _to be resting up and meditating to speak with the Kyūbi. "If you want her back gimme back my scroll, asshole!" Even shouting took effort, the _jinchūriki_ noted.

"Don't you dare hurt her!" The Kiri ninja shouted taking out the Earth scroll he had appropriated from Naruto.

"Does it look I'm the kind of guy that would hurt her?" Naruto wanted to shake his head at the boy's foolishness. The only reason why he was in this predicament was because he heard a feminine scream that belonged to the girl he now had in his Water Prison. The Kiri team he was fighting had been keeping an eye on them and monitored their hideout. When Yugito and Hari had left, they had mistakenly hoped to be able to lure Naruto out of the hideout so that they could capture him to use him for leverage. Naruto smiled painfully, still content with himself for giving his first enemy a sound trashing for trying to sneak up on him when he was trying to help the petite kunoichi he had in his Suirō. _"I need to stop thinking with my dick, damn it!" _He rebuked himself in the realms of his mind. His compulsive hitting on women because he was uncomfortable with the aspect of commitment would come to bite him in the ass big time one day, he figured. And when that day came this incident would be nothing but a minor mishap in comparison.

The Kiri ninja shouldering his fallen teammate approached Naruto with the scroll outstretched in his free hand shouted, "Okay, here's your fucking scroll now let her go."

"Sure," a feral smile crept onto Naruto's face. The ninja was close enough. And so he released his Water Prison technique and in an split second he shot across the grass so fast his foolish adversary could hardly blink before being jump-kneed in the face and sent to the ground with a broken nose. Naruto jumped on top of him, reared back his arm and began pummeling the Kiri ninja in the face repeatedly, only stopping once he heard the satisfying crack of a broken jaw. _"Serves you right,"_ the prankster thought getting off the unconscious ninja with his own Earth scroll. "Looks like the shoe is on the other foot now, huh?" Naruto stumbled to the river stream and lifted the kunoichi up by her collar.

"P- Please..."

"Please what?" He chucked her against a tree, approaching her as she slid down with an uncomfortable thud. He noted she was so drenched he could see through her top and spotted her black lingerie piece. She was a lucky girl to have faced off against him rather than any other shinobi out there. She was attractive which was a dangerous attribute for herself if anything.

"Please let us go!" She said teary eyed, crawling up against the tree like a snail in complete fear of the powerhouse that had singlehandedly taken out her team. "I'm begging you."

Naruto bent over with struggle and picked up a kunai blade that had sunk into the ground. "What makes you think I should show any mercy to you? You guys knew I was injured. That's why you waited for my team to leave before you lured me out of here."

"We- we're sorry! Please... just don't kill us."

"I should though, don't you think? You were more than prepared to kill _me _for my scroll. Do you honestly think I'll believe for a second you would show the same compassion to anyone else out there? I should kill you," he affirmed with a step forward with the kunai gripped tightly in his hand. He didn't particularly enjoy this but he knew he couldn't afford to be compassionate to those that wanted to harm him. Not always and certainly not now.

"Look, ma- maybe we can work something out? Maybe you and I can- you know..." The kunoichi was at her wits end now. Desperation took over. Self preservation instincts were too strong for the young kunoichi.

"What do you mean?" Naruto didn't know what she meant but he stopped his approach, glad to postpone killing the kunoichi.

"I'll fuck you if you let us go!" She shouted with a radiant blush. She convinced herself if she closed her eyes and pretended she was with her boyfriend it wouldn't be bad. And since she offered it, it _wasn't_ rape, she told herself.

"You're such an idiot," Naruto said harshly stepping forward once again. "If I was that kind of guy, I would've had my way with you regardless of whether you offered it or not." It was a harsh way of putting it but it was the truth. _Fortunately _for the kunoichi he wasn't that kind of guy. "And besides, you're not my type."

"Y- you're lying. Why else did try and help me? All men think of on- one thing and that's getting laid. You can't possibly tell me you're not even considering taking my offer or even ha- having your way with me like you sai-"

A kunai lodged itself an inch into the tree next to her head with a flick Naruto's wrist. He looked furious with his angered expression and glinting eyes. "Who the fuck do you think I am?"

"I- I'm sorry! So sorry! Pl- please just let us go! We'll leave and we won't come back for revenge- I promise!"

"Your promises aren't worth shit to me. Everything you have offered so far is nothing I care for. If I wanted you, I would take you," he stepped closer and unsheathed his ninja-to from his back-strap as he spoke. "If I wanted to prevent you from coming after me, I could just kill you right here... right now."

"W- wait! I have the scroll – you can take that can't you?" She blushed furiously as he approached her.

"Why are you blushing?" Naruto levied his blade and rested it under chin, forcing her to make eye contact. "What's so embarrassing?"

"I- I sealed it..."

"Where's your scroll? In her?" He tapped the pouch on her hip with the tip of his ninja-to. When she shook her head Naruto curved his head in confusion. "Where?" He demanded.

"In m- my bra."

"The scroll's too big to hide down there." An annoyed twitch broke on his temple. This was getting very tiresome. "Where is it?"

"It's in my br- bra! I've got a seal hidden under it!"

"Wh- what?" Naruto was genuinely taken back. Had he cared for it, he would have complimented her for her ingenuity. Instead he raised his ninja-to and sliced downwards.

The kunoichi flak jacket shred open along with her tight body suit. Naruto wiped away his nosebleed, forcing himself to think objectively and not about his captive's perky bust. Naruto hesitated a moment but resolved quickly and crouched in front of the kunoichi and slide his hand into her body, ignoring the soft breast he brushed past to get to the clasp on her back. He frowned, undoing a bra clasp was next to impossible with one hand.

"Ah, your hands are cold!"

"Sh- shut up!" He told her sheathing his ninja-to and withdrawing his hands and placing them on her shoulders. Naruto swallowed thickly, this was awfully erotic and all for a damn scroll. He pulled down the fabric down to elbows, exposing her luscious cleavage under her black lingerie piece and her milky white skin.

"I thought you weren't interested me in this way," the kunoichi commented slyly. The look on his was ever so typical, even her boyfriend still pulled the expression when they were alone.

"I thought I told you to shut up," Naruto told her, reaching under her soft skinned arms to reach the clasp and fiddle with it.

_Click!_

Naruto stood back holding up the garment piece, ignoring the tag despite his curiosity to find out her size.

"I'm a D cup in case you're wondering," the kunoichi teased, spreading her legs erotically. She moved excessively to bounce her perky breasts teasingly. If he could resist her now, she was Buddha.

Naruto gawked at the site. _"No!"_ He reminded himself. "I told you I'm not that kind of guy."

"Why not? Sooner or later, whether it's now or years from now, you'll probably force yourself on a woman anyway. Might as well get some practice in now, don't you think?" The kunoichi goaded him with a sexy smirk as she shifted herself into another erotic position she knew her boyfriend loved. _"Come on you fool... come and force yourself on me so I can snap your fucking neck. What fucking kid your age doesn't want to get laid?"_

Naruto ignored her and held up the lingerie for his examination. It was still _warm_ and had her scent. _"Focus, Uzumaki!"_ He told himself, turning over the bra and feeling the insides of what the thought were called the 'cups' of a bra. _"There we go," _he felt something under the right part of the garment and after closer inspection found a sealing tag under a double layer.

"You must be talented with seals," Naruto turned to her holding up the tag and tossing the bra on the girl, "It's got a blood seal on it." He walked over to her, crouching right in front of her and reached over for the kunai he had thrown at her earlier. "I'm going to need a bit of your blood- ngh!"

Suddenly the kunoichi had kissed him so aggressively he had forgotten where he was. Before his brain could process it her legs were wrapped around his hips and she had cut the ropes onto the kunai lodged into the tree. The kunoichi wrapped her arms around his neck moaning to his groans and grinding her hips onto him erotically. "Fuck me!"

"Nngh!" Naruto didn't know what he was doing, but being the man he was he couldn't resist this amount of temptation. He wasn't no damn Bhudda. Naruto caressed her tight bum that felt very _nice_ under the skin tight bodysuit. She moaned loudly to his touch, encouraging his squeezing and caressing. He sat up and stuck his tongue in her mouth and groaned loudly feeling her grind her curves into his manhood. She slowly but surely forced his head down to her breast and shivered as his cold hands grasped onto them and he kissed her down there.

_"Now!" _The kunoichi's arms tightened around his neck and with one swift movement she heard a satisfying _crack!_ Naruto slumped in her embrace and his arms fell to her side. The kunoichi pushed him off her onto his back. "That's what you get for defying us, you fucking bastard."

She got off the youth's pelvis and picked up her bra and strapped it back with ease. "Jeez, you couldn't even take off a bra yet you could take us all out on your own? You're some kid." She had to give him that. She was at least three years older than him and more experienced but that had proved to be useless in actual battle. Then again, she had just taken advantage of his inexperience with women. "Guess experience is still worth something, huh, kiddo? Too bad, you were a good kisser. I'm sure you could have satisfied many women if you had the chance to grow older. Too bad," the kunoichi repeated. She walked over to her two male teammates who were still unconscious and prodded them with her feet. "Genji, Tengo, wake up!"

A cold feeling crept up her spine. The kunoichi quickly turned around to see the kid stand up with his grotesquely snapped neck moving back into place.

Her breath hitched.

His eyes were red.

…

Naruto stood hunchbacked over the unmoving bodies of the genin, his hands clenching. "You fucking idiot," he said to himself out loud, picking up the Darkness scroll. "You were fucking played just like that!"

He couldn't believe how he let himself be seduced so easily by the kunoichi that now lay unconscious with a severe concussion and a broken bone or two next to her teammates who had injuries of their own ranging from a broken jaw to broken arms. He really had done a number on them but this shouldn't have happened he told himself. This _could _have been avoided and he knew it. Instead of staying objective as he should have, he had once again thought with his genitals rather than his brains. To her credit the kunoichi had more seduction skills that he had thought and she_ was_ attractive. He doubted anyone in his age group would have been able to ignore her unless they were gay. Naruto shuddered and shook his head, some thoughts were neither for today or ever for that matter.

Naruto picked up the Darkness scroll, uncaring for his bloody hand as he placed it in his pouch alongside with his own Earth scroll. Suddenly it struck him the pain was no longer there when he bent over to pick up the scroll. Naruto looked down his shirt and tapped his chest but no pain followed. Apparently the Kyūbi had sensed its existence was in actual danger and had healed his host's broken neck along with his other injuries. Rather than being appreciative, Naruto was glad he had won this battle of patience with the Kyūbi without even speaking to it. If there was one thing Naruto hated, it was groveling before the fox to aid him. Although this hardly ever happened, it left a bad taste in his mouth even thinking of begging the Kyūbi for help. The young genin sighed and made a Shadow Clone and left after instructing it to move the Kiri genin team to a safe place. No matter who his adversaries were, he wouldn't leave them out in the open, unconscious and without defenses. Especially since he knew what could happen if he left the kunoichi out in her open and vulnerable to any predator out there with a hard on-

"Okay, that's enough grim thoughts, Uzumaki," he told himself, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he walked away without even bothering to look at this clone. As soon as it dispelled he would know what it knew. On the way back to the camp he asked himself for the millionth time why he didn't make use of the Kage Bunshin training. It was quite useful in learning jutsu he had discovered in the months of preparation for the Chūnin Exam, yet he already knew the answer. It felt unnatural to him to gain power without _really_ working for it himself and though he would occasionally make use of the training method, he flat out refused to rely on it for every single ninjutsu out there. It wasn't like he had tons of responsibilities that disallowed him to train on his own and obtain power with his own hands like Kirabi had done.

The hideout was deserted as he had left it. He could neither smell nor hear anyone in proximity of their hideout so he proceeded to sink through the ground with his Dochū Eigyo and appeared in the tree hideout.

-ooo-

Hours later Naruto's eyes snapped open, his body recognizing two strong chakra signatures getting closer. His teammates were intentionally flashing their signatures to warn him something was wrong. A minute later, Naruto felt another fifteen or so chakra signatures he hadn't encountered before. They must have thought they were in enough danger they to try and warn Naruto to escape. Naruto gripped onto his ninja-to and frowned, _"Why isn't she using the Nibi?" _The he remembered what Darui had told him and Yugito in private weeks ago. Darui had specifically addressed him.

_"Raikage-sama has asked me to ensure you understand these exams do not mean you should flaunt the Kyūbi's power. Kumo's getting enough heat for having three biju in the first place and Konoha's council won't take kindly to you flattening the opposition with the Kyūbi's power. Especially since they once saw you as their property."_

Naruto hadn't seen Darui so serious before outside of training and so heeded his words. He despised the damnable fox anyway.

Naruto stood in the middle of the small clearing leaning on his ninja-to sheath that made a good support. He wasn't going to escape now. In fact he was going to protect his friends no matter what. "Just get here safely..."

-ooo-

"Hari, keep going! I'll distract them!" Yugito shouted as they continued jumping branch after branch, dodging ninjutsu attacks and deflecting incoming projectiles, already sporting cuts and bruises from a battle they had just attempted to flee. They were being tailed by two teams of Kusagakure (Hidden Grass) and two from Getsugakure (Hidden Star) and another team of Jōkigakure (Hidden Steam) and Shimogakure (Hidden Frost). Apparently the genin from the smaller villages had made a pact to eliminate the teams of the major village. Yugito cursed herself for not anticipating this. Of course, she thought, teams from the minor villages who were only allowed to submit three teams each would make these pacts to greater their chances and to defy the Great Five Shinobi Villages.

"Are you crazy?" The pseudo-medic retorted. "Katon! Hitama!" Hari jumped forward and turned a hundred-eight degrees, turning up side down and punched a fire ball the size of a beach ball at their pursuers. Unfortunately their pursuers saw it coming and split apart to avoid the fireball and continued hailing them with fire.

(_Jutsu: Katon! Hitama – Flame Shot!)_

Hari descended next to Yugito on a branch and nodded to her as they saw a water stream up ahead. Launching forward with a chakra enhanced jumps they covered another thirty feet, turned around and shouted simultaneously, "Suiton! Suijinheki!" The wall of water shot up behind them and deflected the fire stream and knocked down to unresponsive-enough genin whom fell down to the ground. However they wouldn't stay down for long, Hari knew so he reached into his pouch in his robe and withdrew three chakra pills. Chakra exhaustion be damned, they were in trouble.

"Yugito, I'm gonna light 'em up. You keep running!" Hari went through a string of seals, feeling his chakra spike triple the amount he had left initially, turned around once again and inhaled air and spat a haze of fire. "Katon! Ryūka no Jutsu!"

Yugito flipped over upside down like Hari had done before and added in a jutsu of her own. "Fūton! Daitoppa no Jutsu!" She was nowhere as adapt as her knucklehead teammate but she had worked on her Daitoppa and it was strong enough to do some reasonable damage. However that wasn't what she had aimed for this time. The wind blast had shot forward and enhanced Hari's Ryūka to grow twice in size.

"Thanks!" Hari appeared next to her by Shunshin and instantly regretted the move. He was low on chakra as it was and here he was using up more unnecessarily. "Looks like I got two of them, Yugito. You should get out of here and find Naruto. I can buy you five minutes." Hari had his hand on his right arm and gripped it tightly, wincing in pain as he assessed the injury he had suffered in their battle against Iwa genin previously which had re-opened to is great annoyance and worry.

They jumped out of the trees and landed, hiding behind a tree and heavily breathing. Yugito inspected his wounds briefly and frowned deeply. This wasn't good, there was no way Hari could go on for much longer. Yugito placed her hands on his shoulder, catching him off guard as she moved in close and looked him in the eyes. "You have to get out of here, Hari," she told him and pressed on before he could protest, "As your taichō I order you to get out of here. Get to Naruto, you can sense him right, and take him far away from here. The hideout is less than a minute from her and they're closing in on us!"

"No!" Hari forced her hands down and held on to her wrist with a determined glare that clearly illustrated he was not going to leave her. "I know what you're thinking, Yugito, and I'm not going to let you lose yourself to the damned cat!"

Yugito was taken back. Hari _never _mentioned the Kyūbi _or _the Nibi. She paused for a moment before she grabbed Hari by the collar and pushed him against the tree. "We have no choice, now get out of here! You're only in my way you weakling!"

"We- Weakling?"

"Yes, weakling! Now get out of here before you get me killed- Hari!" Yugito shouted at him as he grabbed on to her wrist and darted between the branches of the tall trees, ignoring her calls to stop.

"Shut up, Yugito! I'm not some kid, now have some faith! We'll make it... for... SURE!" Hari swung her out of the tree with all his might into the clearing outside their hideout, hoping she wouldn't hurt herself when she landed as he turned around and held his sword sheath in front of him, facing the sixteen genin with a grim expression.

The technique was far from perfection and he knew this. Months on end he had dedicated all of his free time outside of team training to develop this jutsu. Day in and day out he would give his all for this jutsu. Neither his teammates nor his teachers knew about this technique. So far he had been able to get by with the use of his Iaidō yet there was little he could do with it now in this situation. Maybe if he had been a master of the style he could have, but unfortunately he wasn't. It had simply been a _spare_ style he would use when the standard Kumo-ryū was impractical. Hari realized he would have to use _that_ jutsu. There was no other option. It was a difficult task and even now it was incredibly instable. Yet he had little choice, Hari reminded himself for what seemed the hundredth time. If he made an attempt to use _that_ technique and failed he could either die or be seriously injured. Death would soon follow either way. However, if he succeeded... he might have a shot at survival. He might even have a chance to wipe them all out in one attack.

"Behold, my first original technique!" Hari shouted placing a hand on his sheath and another on the scabbard. His hands glowed white before catching fire as he shouted, "Kenbu Ōgi! Jōuen-Ryū no Ken!" His blade caught fire and flickered weakly but Hari was confident he could manage one hit. "Just one," he told himself. "JUST ONE! Zangeki!"

The ninja-to's metal completely disappeared in the gulf of fire that flickered in all directions. The handle began to melt in Hari's hand as he raised his blade and brought it down in a vertical slash followed by horizontal slash. Thick fire pillars shot at the enemy and took down another three with ease to Hari's swelling pride. The genin raised his blade for another Zangeki only to find it glowing erratically with blue chakra. "Oh fu-"

_BOOM!_

Hari flew through the air in excruciating pain and a trail of blood from his right arm that clutched onto his molten blade. Hari tried to manoeuvre through the air to escape death by gravity however his body screamed in pain at the notion of it. 'I'm not gonna- I'm not gonna make it!'

Suddenly a _colossal _chakra spiked through the forest. Hari's sensory abilities went wild as a chakra level of the charts boomed through the forest. "No," Hari stammered as he fell down through the air as he looked over his shoulder to find Yugito under Naruto's left arm who looked up to Hari and roared. He was no longer a regular genin but a fearsome beast as he clawed at the sky as if tearing it open. Sixty feet in the sky and plummeting to the ground Hari's eyes bulged.

Hari's heart stopped beating for a moment. This was more chakra than he had ever felt from the blond. It was as if he had never truly known the depths of his best friend's chakra reservoirs. _"This is impossible!"_ Hari thought as he was embraced in wind and dragged down in a spiral to the ground where he fell on his side behind Naruto in a fit of coughs.

"Naruto calm down, you're alerting the whole damn forest!" Hari shouted at the top of his lungs over the tearing screech of the Daitoppa his best friend had used. He was hardly over the shock but he could still think rationally, thankfully. "NARUTO!" Hari shouted again as birds took to the sky in terror and animals of all sizes seemed to flee in terror.

"Hold on to her!" Naruto threw Yugito aside, barely noting her indignant yelp, holding on his in front of him and channeling his chakra. This was going to be tough and he knew he couldn't afford to be pulling anymore punches.

"There's too many of them, use the Kyūbi!" Yugito screamed at him over the howling wind. Why wouldn't he listen to her? Just because he didn't like the fox he would foolishly get himself hurt. Frustration built up in her chest and she called out to him. "Naruto!"

"I DON'T NEED THE DAMN FOX FOR ANYTHING!" Naruto shouted back in reply, running towards the incoming genin with arms arched behind him, air tightening around them to form his Shippū Shūren signature move. Naruto bellowed at them with such intensity his enemies hesitated midair for a brief moment. That was all he needed. Storming forward and roaring at them with such power his chakra brushed the winds against the genin alliance with the drills held in a cross in front of him. Naruto shot past them with such speed, before they had blinked, he was behind them and by the time he had turned another two Kusa genin had plummeted to the ground in a shower of blood spraying from their chest before they hit the earth with painful crunches.

-ooo-

(Elsewhere in the Forest of Death)

"Prepare to die, Uchiha Sasuke."

Uchiha Sasuke locked eyes with his opponents and smirked arrogant, zeroing in on the leader of the bunch and did not even having bothered to activate his Sharingan for the Otogakure genin. The lone Uchiha glanced to his left, noting that Sakura was clashing against two kunoichi on her own. He scoffed impatiently and looked to his right to see his estranged teammate and pseudo rival Sai face a genin and his kunoichi partner. Unlike Sakura, Sai was experiencing little to no difficulty fighting them. In fact, Sasuke could tell he was blatantly drawing out the fight so that he wouldn't have to come to the rosette's aid. _"That's right,"_ Sasuke thought as he shifted his eyes back to the six genin that stood before him with weapons drawn and in stances of their own. "We grow strong on our own."

The lonesome Uchiha did not wait for the confusion to leave the expressions of the genin and shot forward, appearing behind them and sheathed his blade on his left hip with a soft _click!_ A rain of blood gushed through the air along with the severed arm of his challenger.

"Do- Dosu!"

Sasuke slowly turned around with a vague smile. These weaklings were amusing to pick off one by one. Their absolute terror was a fiendish delight for the prodigy. "I assume you weaklings were prepared to die when challenging the Uchiha?" The question appeared to be rhetorical but in actual fact Sasuke was intrigued. Did the name of the Uchiha still inflict fear upon those that dared to challenge them? "Sabishii Hiseki."

The remaining genin fell to the ground dead. Alone in death. As lonesome as he was now.

"As expected from you, Sasuke-san." Sai's opponents fell to the ground, turning out to have been dead for a while but were animated by his ink to make him appear busy. The detached genin eyed Sakura struggling with her kunoichi adversaries whom had gone into hysterical madness over the loss of their comrades.

Sasuke turned as soon as Sakura had finished them with relative ease now that they were in panic and hysteria. Ignoring her cheers, Sasuke threw the Light scroll to Sai and continued his stride. "Let's go."

"Sasuke-kun, I got them. I protected you!"

"Impressive for a flat-chest cow," Sai threw at her with a smile, easily sidestepping her punch and continuing to goad her.

Sasuke's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. "Will you two stop your- What the!"

A _tidal wave_ of chakra washed over them like a tsunami. Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he instantly activated his Sharingan to detect the source of the _monstrous _chakra. The Uchiha's eyes widened to incredible extents as his Sharingan was being overflowed by a chakra he had encountered before. From his calculations it was travelling over seven miles! "Im- impossible!"

"Sakura-san, catch your breath," Sai ordered the rosette who had a hard time breathing once she comprehended there was a 'monster' with such power in the Chūnin Exam. Sai struck her, slapping her out of her daze despite feeling the depths of chakra himself and feeling an eerie feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Uzumaki Naruto?" Sasuke deactivated his Sharingan with a profound sense of disbelieve. Yet, the prodigy smiled sinisterly with a great wave of excitement. "Sai! Sakura!"

_(Jutsu: Sabishii Hiseki – Lonesome Flight!)_

-ooo-

Ino nearly fell over and yelped. "Kya! What the hell is that, Shikamaru?" She screamed at her perpetually lazy teammate. The sensation she had just felt was just insane. The kunoichi noticed even Chōji seemed greatly disturbed. "Shikamaru!"

Shikamaru turned to her with a troubled look. "How would I know? This is chakra is out of the world! Only a demon or- Naruto!" Shikamaru's eyes widened in disbelief. His father had been right to say the boy was one to look out for. Shikamaru frowned, "That couldn't have been more than three miles from here. Let's get out of here."

"Na- Naruto?" Ino repeated shaking her head vehemently, feeling regret for selling him out to Sasuke crash into her. "No, that must be Sasuke-kun or someone else!"

"Ino, just get a move on!" Chōji shouted at her, grabbing her by the arm and following Shikamaru's lead.

-ooo-

"Get him!" One of the Shimogakure genin shouted to his two partners, who nodded to him as they all performed hand seals simultaneously. "Suiton! Mizurappa!"

Naruto slashed at the water cannon but was pushed back violently and send hurtling into a tree. He was quick enough to hold his drills in front of him to block against the unidentified water technique they followed up with as the Shimogakure genin set down in branches close to the remaining genin of their alliance. Naruto darted out of the tree to avoid a stream of leaves that ripped through the bark with ease. Naruto swore and back flipped between branches and pad the tiger hand seal, "Hōsenka no Jutsu!" The fireball projectiles to counter the leaves but this also left him in a vulnerable position as he maintained the technique. The Kusa genin's allies took advantage of his stationary position by appearing next to him with kunai drawn. Naruto took a stab to the shoulder but kicked one brutally in the face, rounded onto his attack and head butted him such force he heard an satisfying _crack _as the genin fell to the ground. If the head butt hadn't broken his neck, the thirty feet fall would. The trees in the_ Forest of Death_ were freakishly tall and at the moment Naruto loved them for it.

"Got you!" One of the Shimogakure gennin announced, appearing behind Naruto with a dagger (Naruto recognized it to be a tantō) ready to stab him the back. Naruto turned to catch his full weight, gripping on to the tantō as they plummeted together. Managing to the free the tantō from the genin's grip, the _jinchūriki_ kneed him in the stomach and planted his elbow in his attacker's cheek to send him crashing into a tree branch and fall down painfully, crushing on multiple branches on his way down. Naruto corkscrewed in the air and threw the tantō like a dagger in the shoulder of another genin from Hoshigakure who had come flying at him for an overhead slash. As the genin dropped, Naruto jumped on to him and launched himself of him with a chakra enhanced hop that broke the Hoshi genin's ribs. Naruto was quick to dodge to the left as a hail of _ice pigeons_ flew headfirst into the thick bark of the tree. The birds exploded in a hail of ice needles, of which some managed to embed in Naruto's forearms but they were no serious threat. Naruto back flipped midair and dashed of another branch with his attackers close on his heels with renewed vigour as they threw more ninjutsu his way. Hard pressed, the Kumo genin made a hand seal and created a hundred shadow clones that dashed in all directions to distract his pursuers as he Shunshined another hundred yards away into another clearing.

"It's gotta be now or never," he told himself out loud as he pulled off his jacket and threw it aside, standing in his bare chest that was covered in bandages up to his ribs. The long distance Shunshin would usually have taken it out of him but with his full reserves released he hardly registered the drain. _"Focus,"_ he told himself as he took a wide stance kata as if he were a sumo-wrestler. He could sense his clones had been dispatched quicker than he had thought. "Those Kusa genin don't fuck around, do they?" Naruto gritted his teeth as the genin appeared in front of him in the trees above, leaning against them, eyeing him predatorily and full with confidence.

"Are you ready to give up, Kumo scum?" A Kusa genin stepped forward. Naruto figured he was the leader, judging from the fact he had stopped the others from acting with merely a wave of his hand. The genin wore the traditional Kusa shinobi attire consisting of a greenish jumpsuit that looked like a straitjacket along with a breathing respirator machine attached to his mouth and goggles. The genin raised his hands and called leaves from the tree above him to form a surprisingly sharp looking blade appear.

"Hahaha, do you have any idea who I am?" Naruto cackled in an eerie comical fashion as he took a ridiculous pose as though he were a kabuki artist.

He had caught their attention as several of the genin tensed up, listening intently.

"I am Uzumaki Naruto, the great Dokuo of Kumogakure. The legendary master of mischief and perversion! It is I, UZUMAKI NA- ACK!" Naruto held his head, a rock having hit him in the forehead and rolled over the floor shouting a string of profanities.

"OI! WHO INTRODUCES THEMSELVES AS A PERVERT AND A VIRGIN?" One of the genin from Shimogakure shouted them with a comical anger expression and shaking a vein-popping fist in anger at the blond. "That was so uncool it's just embarrassing to watch! I refuse to acknowledge you!"

"She's right… that was kinda embarrassing," one of the Hidden Star genin said to his comrade.

"Yeah and I tensed up too..."

"What a freak."

"... How despicable."

"Oh, sorry!" Naruto said sheepishly rubbing the back of his head as he looked at the kunoichi who had pulled down her scarf down to shout at him. "Hey, you're kinda cute. Will you go out with me? I'll be gentle!"

"Ge- Gentle? OI! WHAT KIND OF GIRL DO YOU THINK I AM?" The kunoichi had to be restrained by her remaining comrades as she fumed.

"Oi, calm down Tsukuyo!"

"Tsukuyo? Wow, that's a cute name. Tsukuyo-hime will you please go out with me?" Naruto got on one knee and clasped his hands, shaking them together in desperation as he cried. "Please, unleash me from my Dokuo curse!"

"That's it, he's DEAD!" She screamed getting out of her comrades' hold and shooting forward at the Naruto with her blade poised for a decapitating slash. Naruto saw his opening, his eyes narrow instantly as he took his stance and delivered a palm thrust aimed at her. "Akkai Genshuku!" A power blast shot from his hands shot down the kunoichi to the ground where she landed where a hard thud, unconscious. Naruto continued to the punch the air in a hurry for his next attack. Not allowing himself to flinch as a kunai dug in his thigh and shoulder, he continued to punch the air gradually hitting pockets of air at his opponent. He had only _theorized _this technique, but now was as good as any other time. "FŪTON! YAGURA!" He shouted as wind blasts shot into the sky towards the genin perched in the trees that were showering him with kunai, shuriken and explosive tags. Naruto continued to punch the sky in front of him at such a fast rate, he truly was like a _turret_, shooting of so many wind blasts even his own chakra began to feel seriously drained. Naturally his chakra control was nowhere near where he had wanted to be with his new technique, but he made a note to commit time to improve his control over his new Yagura jutsu if he survived this.

_(Jutsu: Fūton! Yagura! – Turret!)_

Naruto shot down three genin from the Hidden Steam village, effectively wiping out their team and let go of the Yagura. His hands were still shaking uncontrollably, but he had no time to regain his bearings as he had to dive to his right, going through a string of hand seals and slap his hands into the serpent hand seal, "Doton! Doryūheki no Jutsu!" He had pumped more chakra than usual to erect a thicker shield in order to block a hail of purple fire shaped as feathers from the Hoshigakure genin. His wall withstood another barrage before crumbling but it was enough for him to sink through the ground and appear behind the trio that had attacked him simultaneously and deliver a powerful kick in their genin team leader's back, going clean through the peacock-shaped chakra aura and sending him flying headfirst in the remains of his earth wall. The remaining two turned on him – Naruto noticed they were using unusual hand seals similar to his Kage Bunshin – and their peacock-shaped chakra flared.

"Kujaku Myōhō: Zan!"

An explosion thundered across the field, kicking up dust with such powerful wind expulsions branches on the thick trees of the Forest of Death shook, causing some of the Hidden Star genin's allies to shout at them over the bellowing winds as they stuck themselves to the trees by chakra. Others pumped their fist in the air with a cheerful cry.

_(Jutsu: Kujaku Myōhō: Zan - Mysterious Peacock Method: Destroy!)_

"What are ya laughing about, pal?" Naruto asked one of the fist-pumping genin as he hung upside down with the kunoichi called Tsukuyo tucked under his left arm as he rubbed his nose with free index finger. Had it not been for his quick Shunshin, he would have been in a lot of trouble now, but those grim thoughts for another time and so pushed them aside to childishly flip off the genin coalition. "You didn't think that was enough to take me outta the game did you, pal?"

"He's got Tsukuyo- urgh!" The genin was sent flying hurtling in a violent spiral by a Crushing Gravity Palm to the stomach on close distance. Naruto unstuck himself and dropped the kunoichi on the branch to the surprise of the other genin. "Don't get me wrong, you're all gonna regret coming after us," the Kumo genin told them with a confident smirk. "But I guess it can't be helped if I you all Henge into hot chicks, in which case I probably can't lay a finger on you!"

"Don't underestimate us, punk! Just because you're from Kumogakure-"

"Exactly because I am from Kumogakure!" Naruto shouted at them with proud smile as he cracked his knuckles in an eerie intimidating fashion. They were definitely going to regret coming after them and making him unleash all his chakra. He wouldn't be surprised if the proctors outside of the Forest of Death could feel his chakra by now.

_"If Kirabi finds out what happened I'm dead,"_ Naruto thought sourly. The Hachibi container had warned him many times to watch his chakra reserves. As dead useful as they were in a fight, it was hardly anything like being a shinobi if your opponents could feel you coming miles away. _"By now the whole fucking forest should know where I am. Damn it!"_

"Get him, there's only one of him! Don't be scared of his chakra, just cut him down where he stands before he can make use of it!" The leading genin from Kusagakure shouted aiming his grass blade at Naruto like a war general directing his troops to attack the enemy. The leader ignored the anxious feeling in the pit of his stomach and went through a series of hand seals of his own, glad he was one of the few prodigies from his village entrusted with this grand technique his master had taught him. The genin touched down in the middle of the clearing next to the Hidden Star genin and nodded to them and watched them fly away with their Kujaku Myōhō whilst he channeled roughly all of his own technique. It was far from completion and he himself had yet been able to make it as strong. As his chakra reached its maximum peak, the genin shouted with all his might as his chakra left him, "Kusa Ninpō Ōgi! Kamisori Kusaryū!"

_(Jutsu: Kusa Ninpō Ōgi! Kamisori Kusaryū! – Secret Grass Ninja Arts! Razor Grass Dragon!)_

Naruto dashed backwards against a tree and launched himself forward and jump-kneed one of the remaining Hidden Moon genin in the face, knocking him out and turned to look where his other attackers were looking. A sudden spike of chakra resonated from the Kusagakure leader whose chakra expelled from his body and seeped into the ground. For a moment nothing happened and Naruto slumped his shoulders in relief, having thought he was about to hit with some super technique – when the grass all over the clearing shot up like pine needles and were plucked out the ground by an invisible force that held them suspended in the air. Naruto felt a cold sensation going down his spine as more and more grass needles joined the mass that was quickly taking shape of a serpentine creature, or more specifically a dragon he realized once the mass had grown fifteen tall and sixty feet long.

"Oh fuck this!" Naruto shouted turning around as he made a run for it. There was no way he was going to fight that thing in an open space, he thought as he dodged his pursuers projectiles. Naruto jumped forward in a front flip and was briefly suspended upside down and saw the red eyed Grass Dragon at him. His eyes widened when he saw the Grass Dragon slither past the allies who had clearly dodged it, only to be sliced to death by an invisible force. Naruto quickly began to punch at the air and fired of another Yagura. Unfortunately the Kusaryū continued to pull grass to itself and repair its damages continuously. Naruto braced himself for the impact of the dragon and was forced to take on its head butt and was propelled through multiple trees with such force he couldn't move midair.

_CRASH!_

Naruto groaned as he tried to wiggle of the crater the Kusaryū had sent him hurtling in, but was unable to move. "Oh fuck," he groaned once the dragon appeared with the Kusa genin riding it, seemingly unhurt by its razor sharp grass needles, whilst he laughed triumphantly.

"Your arrogance has cost you, Kumogakure scum! Behold the secret technique of Kusagakure! The feared Kusaryū!" The genin open his arms wide in a grand gesture. His previously cool composure was gone and he laughing hysterically. The genin looked at the blond with insane glint in his eyes. "What will you do now, Uzumaki Naruto the great DOKUO of Kumogakure?"

Naruto struggled to get his feet muttering, "Jeez, stop talking. You're like some cliché villain from an anime and it's ruining my vibe!" Blood trickled down his arms and chest but Naruto was still standing he told himself. He could do this. "JUST COME AT ME, BRO!"

"AS YOU WISH! AAAAH!" The Kusagakure genin screamed as the Kusaryū reared back and darted forward like a serpent. The genin cackled sure of his victory but abruptly stopped when the dragon roared in anger as it was met with strong opposition that nearly knocked the genin of the dragon. "What the- IMPOSSIBLE!"

"HAH, THIS IS NOTHING!" Naruto shouted with visibly strain as he pushed the dragon into a deadlock and blood erupted from new wounds. If he didn't have the Kyūbi, his scars would have rivaled those of Morino Ibiki. The future Raikage of Kumogakure no Sato roared out to the skies as his chakra spiked to incredible heights that seemed to even baffle the dragon that shared the surprise of its creator. Hesitation weakened the dragon. Naruto threw up the dragon's head and reared back his arm. "EAT IT!" Naruto shouted delivering a powerful punch that sent the dragon flying back with a huge chunk of its head missing and tearing down half a dozen trees.

"IMPOSSIBLE!" The Grass genin screamed as he held his head. Even if technique was not as strong as those of the selected shinobi from his village, he was the number one prodigy of Kusagakure and he had been entrusted with this jutsu by the Kusakage personally! "NO! Kusaryū!" The Grass Dragon poised itself once again for an attack. His chakra reservoirs had depleted severely by now. Luckily his allies were close by, so even if he did collapse from severe chakra depletion, they were obligated to help him by the treaty their villages had signed with his. "ONCE MORE!" The genin screamed and the Kusaryū's head reared back, hissing with a snake like tongue made of grass.

Naruto dropped to his knees, drenched in so much blood his bandages were red with blood. His body screamed in pain to the point he trembled uncontrollably. The genin was closing on him. _"Come on, move! This is nothing compared to Kirabi's sessions, asshole!"_ He shouted mentally. _"MOVE!"_

"MOVE!"

Naruto's eyes snapped open. He hadn't said it out loud-

"BANRAI!"

A blinding flash of light appeared and hit the dragon from the side. He was unable to see what happened as he instinctively closed his eyes to shield himself against the blinding light that was practically melting his retinas.

A loud and ear-splitting thunderclap followed.

Before he had registered it, he was holding his head in pain, his eyes still closed. Yet, he didn't have to open his eyes to know who it was. Before he felt her presence, or even saw her for that matter, he knew Yugito had arrived. Naruto's eyes fluttered in frenzy against the pain but he forced himself to look and founding Yugito in a crouching position next in front of him with her wakizashi drawn. "Are you okay?"

"Aside you from trying to permanently blind me, just great, Neko-chan!" Naruto gritted his through the pain, reached into his pouch, fishing out a bottle of painkillers. They tasted absolutely disgusting but it was better than having to deal with excruciating pain. Naruto nearly chugged its entire contents before placing the bottle back in his pouch, reached for Yugito and grabbed her by the shoulder. "I've got it, alright? Where the fuck is Hari?"

"Not now," Yugito didn't even look at him, eyeing the cloud of smoke intently, attempting to sense for a chakra signature aside from those she had quickly incapacitated. "Tche, 'I got it'?" She repeated with an audible annoyance."You nearly got killed after you rushed off, fully unleashing your chakra to the point the whole forest can sense you. You sure are a foolish one, Uzumaki."

"Uzumaki, huh?" Naruto growled at her. He had liked it when she called him by his first name but if she wanted to play it that way, so be it. "What about you, Nii – since we're back on last name terms here. You get in a fight with a whole damn coalition of genin who would like nothing better than humiliate one of the Great Five. I clean up your mess and you give me this crap?"

"Clean up our mess? Did I actually impose brain damage on you?" Yugito growled back, looking over her shoulder with a furious look in her eyes. "Oh, how typically disappointingly of you, Uzumaki. Running wild and doing as you please without a second of thought or consideration!" Yugito stood up and turned around, as did he, and poked him in the chest.

Naruto flinched and glared at her. "What do you care anyway?"

"I don't!"

"Good, stay out of my business!"

"You unbelievable son of a-"

The swear died in her mouth as a sudden roar caught their attention. The _jinchūriki _turned to see another Kusaryū charge at them and slapped their hands together simultaneously and raised a Doryūheki together that was taller and thicker than either of them had achieved before. Though they could have dodged the considerably slower Grass Dragon, they had both felt a surge of chakra from a very familiar chakra signature and knew what was coming next.

"KATON! KARYŪDAN NO JUTSU!"

A Fire Dragon flew past with a deafening screech as it crashed into the Grass Dragon with such impact even surrounding trees were blowing backwards at extraordinary angles. Naruto and Yugito jumped back simultaneously as the dragons crashed through the Earth Style Wall and flew in the direction of the _jinchūriki_ pair. Out of sheer instinct, Naruto reached out to Yugito's wrist and pulled her into a tight embrace and spun a Daitoppa with one hand that was strong enough to change their course and miss the fighting dragons by a few feet. They were about to crash into the ground but Naruto held on to Yugito and turned with her a split second before impact to brake her fall with his body. "Argh!" Naruto's back arched in pain, making him grip on tighter to the kunoichi who was sporting a brilliant red blush on her delicate features.

Yugito mumbled against his chest, not in the slightest enjoying having her fellow _jinchūriki's_ blood on her and helped him to his feet. Once he stood on his feet, Yugito swiftly planted her fist in his gut to let him bend over in pain and fall face first on the floor.

"Don't you ever pull that stunt again," Yugito told him fiercely, feeling a fury she knew was unjust but she expressed it nonetheless. Naruto groaned something incoherently, but his voice was filled with enough pain for Yugito to approach him to help up- "Ouf!"Naruto shook his hand painfully as Yugito took a mouthful of dirt of her own.

"You crazy bitch! I don't know what your problem is, but that was fucking insane!" Naruto shouted at her, falling to a knee and nursing his aching chest as Yugito sat up sporting a swollen cheek.

"Mhmph," Yugito spat blood to the side and got up with as much dignity and elegance as she could. For inexplicable reasons she felt not a drop of anger, and yet even stranger, she felt a sense of relief, as if she literally had some sense knocked into her. "Can you fight?"

Naruto got to his feet and nodded. "We need to hurry. Hari can't possibly keep up that jutsu for long. Especially in his condition." Whatever Yugito was playing at, he was fine with ignoring what just happened. He wasn't proud of striking an ally, but she had it coming, which he figured she knew as well by her lack of anger.

They nodded to each other and hurried over to the battle of dragons and Shunshined next to Hari who shouted.

"About fucking time, love birds!"

They made a point out of feigning not to have heard him and shot of fire jutsu of their own to destroy the Grass Dragon.

"Katon! Hōenka!" Yugito spat a series of fire flowers to destroy the Grass Dragon while Hari collapsed next to her. There was little left of the dragon to deal with, so little she and Naruto could take care of it on their own.

"Katon! Hōsenka no Jutsu!" Naruto joined in and spat a stream of fire projectiles at the Kusaryū. He held the technique for as a long as he could, which was about twenty seconds in his condition. The creature howled, being destroyed faster than it could regenerate.

The genin on top of the beast was slumped and from what Hari could clearly see, was _dying_ from chakra exhaustion. His skin had taken a grey tinge and veins popped up all over his body. Hari had never seen chakra exhaustion of this severity aside from the pictures he had seen in the books. "We need to stop him before he dies!" When they did nothing Hari knew they were ignoring him so he raised his voice. "NARUTO! YUGITO! STOP HIM!"

Naruto looked at Hari and then to Yugito who couldn't keep up her Flame Flower technique any longer and nodded. "Alright, Hari," the genin shot forward towards the Kusaryū and raised his right arm above him and channeled as much chakra as he could to it, "Shippū Shūren! DAI GIRI!" A giant Hurricane Drill appeared on Naruto's arm and grew to great lengths and sharpened so tight it cut himself. In a fluid motion Naruto cut down the core of the best and literarily _carved_ the genin out. Naruto held grabbed on to the genin with his left hand and turned on his heel and launched him with an baseball pitch over his shoulder with as much power as he could muster into Hari's arms.

_(Jutsu: Shippū Shūren! Dai Giri – Hurricane Drill! Great Slash!)_

"Oh shit!" Naruto spun on his heel and shot himself into the sky with a particularly strong Daitoppa. The sudden disconnection with its creature had made the Grass Dragon so unstable it was falling apart and by the time Naruto had launched himself into a tree it had exploded, hurling extremely sharp razor grass in every direction. The knucklehead ninja counted himself lucky for getting way with only three ten inch grass needles stuck in his forearm. Naruto chuckled for no particular reason, looking over to his teammates looking after the Kusa genin. "What the fuck you laughing for, Uzumaki?" He asked himself before falling face forward with a tired groan. When was this day going to end?

It began to rain. Naruto smiled and turned on his back with his arms spread, welcoming the cooling water.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

This must be the quickest update ever. In fact it actually is!

I could have just held on to this chapter a little longer to give more of you the chance to review but, oh well. Reviews make me happy but it's all about putting your stuff out there and that's what I'm doing! I thoroughly enjoyed writing the fight scenes and I hope you enjoyed reading them. The question really on my mind is what you guys think of Hari's new kenjutsu style.

Let me know what you think in a **_review!_**

…

**Jutsu Used:**

_ (Jutsu: Kenbu Ōgi! Jōuen-Ryū no Ken – Secret Sword Dance! Flaming Desires of the Blade Style!) - ? rank, offensive, short range. Hari's never before seen sword dance he developed secretly for months without his teammates knowing. As of yet, nothing is known of the technique or its derived jutsu, other than Hari channels his Katon chakra through the blade to set it alight. **Derived jutsu:** Zangeki (Slashing Attack)._

_(Jutsu: Zangeki – Slashing Attack!) - ? rank, offensive, short to mid range. The first jutsu Hari developed that derives from his original Jouen no Ken kenjutsu style. Upon lighting the blade with flames, Hari will perform the Zangeki in either a vertical or horizontal or even a combination of slashes to expel fire pillars. **Parent jutsu:** Kenbu Ōgi! Jōuen-Ryū no Ken (Secret Sword Dance! Flaming Desires of the Blade Style)._

_ (Jutsu: Fūton! Yagura! – Turret!) – B rank, offensive, mid to long range. A jutsu first theorized by Naruto after learning the Crushing Gravity Palm technique. This jutsu requires the user to take a wide stance and pump chakra into his or her arms and punch the air at blinding speed all the while expel chakra. Unlike its parent jutsu, the Yagura does not use palm thrust but rather relies on punches. **Parent jutsu:** Fūton: Akkai Genshuku (Crushing Gravity)._

_(Jutsu: Kusa Ninpō Ōgi! Kamisori Kusaryū! – Secret Grass Ninja Arts! Razor Grass Dragon!) – A rank, offensive, mid to long range. Kusa's prized ninjutsu passed down from the Kusakage to one genin of each generation. This technique is an extremely power move that taxes tremendous levels of chakra to the point many users have died in the past. The user of this technique pour their chakra into the area around them to sharpen needles to be as sharp as blades and then form them into a large dragon shaped out of the grass. The razor grass is coated by chakra it cuts those close to it. The chakra laced on the grass ensures the wounds that are opened will continue to bleed continuously due to the chakra that cuts deep into the veins and arteries. So far this technique has yet to appear in its perfected state._


	19. Yugito VS Gaara: Battle of Jinchūriki

**Kumogakure Ninja**

Posted: 23-03-11

Updated: 28-06-11

* * *

CH19: Yugito VS Gaara

* * *

(Forest of Death – Team Kirabi Hideout)

Naruto observed the fire before him with unfocused eyes, poking at the flames with a stick. It was late at night. The moon was sparklingly beautifully and bathed the _Forest of Death_ in its brilliant rays of light. In a slope-like cavern in the eastern section of the forest was team Kirabi's new hideout. Naruto was deep in thought of what happened in the past twelve hours. His injuries suffered by the hands of the Iwa kunoichi who had stabbed him in the back with his own ninja-to when he had thrown the strongest Shūrai he had been able to perform. His teammates had left him to rest in their hideout as they went hunting for another scroll. Hours later had heard a feminine scream and had left the hideout to come to her aid, only to find out it was an ambush that had nearly gotten him killed and their scroll stolen. The kunoichi had successfully seduced him and even gone so far as breaking his neck during. The thought of it made Naruto frown deeply and hate himself even more. While he was busy getting seduced and his neck broken, Yugito and Hari had been ambushed while fighting a team from Iwagakure, so they had told him. They had rushed back to the hideout in case Naruto was being attacked but instead he ended up saving them. Although in the spur of the moment he had unleashed his entire chakra reserves and must have alerted the entire _Forest of Death_ which was why they had to move camp to another tree nearly two miles away from their first hideout. It was smaller, poorly lit, cramped and the ground was uneven but they had managed to set up a secure and moderately comfortable hideout.

Though at the time he was hard pressed, Naruto realized he was actually _happy_ to have fought the genin coalition. It was an exhilarating experience to put his life on the line and the fact he had saved his teammates because of it made it even better. He had developed two ninjutsu derived from his trademark techniques and it still astonished him (and his teammates) to no end how he managed to do so in the heat of battle. The Yagura was a _killing machine_ and his Dai Giri addition for his Shippū Shūren was so sharp he had managed to cut through the monstrous Grass Dragon and save the Kusagakure genin who had sacrificed himself to create it.

Naruto almost shuddered remembering how he had taken it head on with his chakra reserves fully released for the first time in a long time. It was an exciting experience to say the least.

"_Kusa Ninpō Ōgi! Kamisori Kusaryū!"_

Naruto wondered for hours what the genin must have been thinking when he had lost himself to desperation to defeat him. The Kusagakure genin had died shortly after he had rescued him from the beast that had consumed his entire chakra reservoir. Hari was beating himself up over not being able to save the youth that had poured all of his chakra and willpower into the beast.

_… Flashback_

Hari was pouring his chakra into the youth's chest desperately, despite being absolutely spent himself. His usually vibrantly green chakra had turned to a weak sputter of chakra. "Come on, fucking breathe!" The pseudo medic slammed his fist on the Kusagakure genin's chest repeatedly. "COME ON!" He shouted in desperation as he switched to heart massages, knowing he had insufficient chakra to help the Kusa genin's heart to beat.

"Hari," Yugito called out to him. Her voice was filled with worry for her teammate. Though neither had said it out loud, they both knew the genin was gone.

The rain began to pour even harder in the _Shi no Mori._ The clouds were once again grey and moving towards each other, indicating an imminent storm.

Hari ignored her and continued his futile attempts. Desperation did not allow him to stop trying. "Come on… Come on…"

"Hari," Yugito repeated worriedly. Naruto's chakra had dropped significantly by now but the other teams were still likely to have noticed and could be on their way to pick off the survivors for their scrolls any minute now. She could not bring herself to chide her teammate for wanting to safe an enemy but at the same time he was putting them at risk. "Hari," she repeated forcibly and took a step forward, only to be grabbed on to by the shoulder by Naruto.

Naruto shook his head firmly and pulled her closer to him under the thick leaves as they watched their teammate continue his attempts at saving the genin. Yugito stood still next to her fellow _jinchūriki,_ wondering why he had stopped her but made no move to stop Hari. She looked at Naruto and saw him gritting his teeth as if he could experience the pain his best friend was feeling. Yugito sighed and move her elbow out of his grasp and crossed her arms over chest, leaning against the tree for additional leaf coverage against the cold drops of rain.

"I don't like it either, Yugito," Naruto said through gritted teeth, his clenched fist shook with frustration. Naruto turned to look at her, for a moment his own pain seemed nothing compared to that what Hari was feeling, the pain of loss and powerlessness. "If I stop him now he'll never forgive himself for not trying harder."

Yugito nearly did a double take. "It's not our fault he attacked us. They came after us, fully intending to kill us because we are from one of the Great Five." The kunoichi shook her head in disagreement with what she had just heard. "These exams are ruthless. We can't keep affording to help those we defeat or pull punches to avoid killing them for that matter. It's foolish. They won't extend the same mercy to us, so why would we?"

As she said this, Naruto reached out to her face and cupped her bruised cheek. Yugito's breath hitched, completely taken off guard by the sudden movement and the touch of his hand on her cheek and his kind smile. "I'm sorry for hitting you before," Naruto told her rubbing the bruise soothingly with his thumb. "But to be fair you had it coming. You took a swing at me first."

"Wh- what are you doing?" She asked him, yet she didn't move his hand.

"I'm apologizing," Naruto answered simplistically with an apologetic smile.

"For what? Like you said, I struck you first."

Naruto continued to smile at her whilst lowering his hand. "Exactly," he told her, "I'm being compassionate even when I don't have to be. I'm doing it because being nice to you makes me feel good because it makes you feel good- or it should do," he chuckled as he turned to Hari, his expression switching back to his frown, gritting teeth. "It's why Hari is having such a hard time. He's a medic and he's a _fool_ for thinking he can save everyone but I guess it can't be helped. As his teammates and friends we-"

"He's dead," Hari announced crouching in front of the body of the Kusagakure genin. His hands were shaking uncontrollably as was his entire body with rage and a profound sense of powerlessness he couldn't quite fathom. The medic reached over to the respirator attached to the genin and disconnected it along with the pair of goggles. Hari's breath hitched as he looked at the genin who looked so peaceful in death with softer features than he had thought possible for the genin that had gone insane shortly before his demise. A painful jolt shook his heart. The genin resembled his younger brother Daichi.

"Hari!" Naruto reached forward to catch his teammate who fell backwards and was about to slip of the thick branch they had been standing on. Hari had fainted in his arms by the time Naruto looked down to his friend with an angry expression. "You idiot…"

Yugito's eyes snapped open as she looked to the east. "Naruto we're about to have company. We need to get out of her quickly," she looked back to her teammate and shared nods. "Forget about the scroll, he probably doesn't even have it on him. Follow my lead," she ordered, jumping forward and aggregating lightning around her body, "Raikō Jōshō!" The kunoichi shot forward with Naruto on her tail with Hari hoisted over his shoulder. Yugito decreased her speed for Naruto to keep up; the Raikō Jōshō wasn't his best technique, despite it being taught in the Kumogakure academy. Admittedly Naruto wasn't too bright when it came to lightning based jutsu.

As they travelled the chakra signature was closing in on them at incredible speeds. Naruto shouted out to Yugito, "Catch!" as he threw Hari to her and shot forward to the source of the chakra signature that rivaled his own, although he had lowered it significant to hide his full reserves. Naruto's eyes narrowed as a giant fireball the _size of a small house_ shot his way, tearing down trees and burning them to crisp as his hands snapped into action and he took a deep breath, "Mizurappa!" The Violent Water Wave expelled from his mouth clashed with the fireball and cancelled each other out. Naruto threw a shuriken to deflect a kunai projectile aimed for him. That proved to be a mistake. Naruto realized it was a mere distract as Uchiha Sasuke appeared behind him with his sword reared back and poised for a decapitating attack. Naruto jumped to his hands to use his metal shin guards to clash with the Uchiha's blade. This particular technique was something he had learned from Kirabi in their taijutsu practices. It was highly effective against most people that wielded blades– including Sasuke who was hard pressed by the sudden assault and jumped back pointlessly throwing his kusarigama at Naruto who kicked it back instantly, cutting a handful strands of hair as it shot past Sasuke's head.

Sasuke smirked, apparently satisfied and sheathed his blade as he spun his kusarigama. "You're strong," Sasuke told him with an even bigger smile. "Very strong. But I won't fight you now. Not yet."

Naruto slid into a stance and delivered a powerful palm strike. "Akkai Genshuku!" The blast soared at Sasuke who coated his kusarigama in chakra and sliced through the air, effectively cancelling the technique almost effortlessly. "Get out of my way or we're going to have a big problem," Naruto growled at him through gritted teeth. He was bluffing right now and he had a feeling Sasuke could tell. His wounds were starting to agitate and his back had yet to stop bleeding since the Kusaryū he had fought earlier.

Sasuke raised his chin with the same smirk, almost goading him to attack. "Like I said I'm not going to fight you right now, Uzumaki," the Uchiha repeated whilst swinging his kusarigama. "You're injured. You won't be able to face me with all you got."

"Sure," Naruto shot back a grin of his own that hid his discomfort, clenching and unclenching his fists. "We'll settle this soon enough, Sasuke," Naruto gathered some lightning chakra around him and darted to the right with another Raikō Jōshō leaving Sasuke to grin excitedly to himself with Sharingan eyes spinning wildly.

_… End Flashback_

Naruto snapped the stick in his hand at the sheer thought of Sasuke, who he could now honestly regard as a rival. A deadly rival who wanted to kill him to prove his own strength, but a rival nonetheless. A dark thought came to mind. Sasuke valued power greatly, perhaps even more than life. Naruto wondered if he had set his aims for vengeance. To say Uchiha Sasuke was unstable would be a tad excessive, but Naruto could _feel_ there was _something_ wrong with him. The Uchiha gave him a bad vibe.

Yugito stirred to his right causing him to shift his weight to look at her, chucking his pieces of stick for additional firewood. Sure enough the kunoichi opened her eyes and looked into his. For the first time in a long while they locked their eyes, convincing themselves it was merely a staring contest like they always used to have and that there were no other reasons. Yugito's eyes narrowed for a second and blinked. Naruto was about to comment it was the first time he had ever won their starring contests but noticed she looked both annoyed and concerned.

"You're bleeding again," Yugito sat up out of her sleeping bag and wiggled out of it. She stood up and walked towards him, picking up Hari's discarded pouch and retrieving the sleeping genin's medical supplies scrolls from it. "Take off your shirt."

"There lays an inappropriate joke in there," Naruto deadpanned, complying once he spot the look she was giving him. The discarded green shirt had stuck to his back and was by now soaked in it. "The Kyūbi's a real dick for not healing me lately," Naruto said to no one in particular. "He's been forcing my body to produce blood as quick as I'm losing it. I can drink as much water as I want but I'm still getting dehydrated," Naruto indicating the fallen barrel that had been full with gallons of water mere hours before. "I'm not even bothering now. He'll have to heal me eventually- aichii!" His back arched with the sudden stinging pain. "That stings."

Yugito pinched a few more droplets of disinfectant on his open wounds. "We need to keep those wounds clean. We don't know how long the Kyūbi's going to keep ignoring you. And unless you want to meditate and have a word with him, we need to keep you healthy ourselves," she put down the bottle of disinfectant and grabbed a few cotton balls and began to dap them in the wounds, soaking up ridiculous amount of blood as he cleaned them.

Naruto gritted his teeth and focused on the fire in front of him to tune out on the stinging sensations. They sat in complete silence for a few minutes, Naruto stared into the flames deep in thought, and Yugito simply cleaned his wounds. It wasn't until she unsealed the gauze that they spoke.

"I'm going to bandage your wounds," she told him sitting in a crouch next to him. "Hold up your arm," she instructed. And he did, clearly straining himself as he grunted in pain. Yugito leaned and wrapped gauze around his midriff, involuntarily resting her head against his warm chest. With some adequacy she managed to cover his ribs with the gauze before applying medical bandages to keep them tightly secured. "How does that feel?"

"Feels great, thank you," he absentmindedly replied, still in deep thought.

Yugito made an indignant scoffing noise but proceeded to wrap Naruto's right forearm in gauze where had been hit by a barrage of razor sharp grass. "What are you thinking about?" Yugito nudged him whilst carefully tightening the gauze across his forearm.

Naruto turned to her and lowered his shoulders in a hopeless shrug, "This exam is out of control," he voiced his concerns for the first time. An imaginary weight instantly was lift off his shoulders. "I'm having fun fighting all these people but at the same time I'm actually trying to kill them just to get a bump to chūnin and test my limits. It just feels so _selfish_ and _stupid_. I'm beginning to doubt whether I'm determined enough to do this."

Yugito laughed softly. It was a very feminine laugh he noted as she spoke, "Of course you've got what it takes," she told him, her voice uncharacteristically gentle. "All you've been talking about since we got entered is this exam. You've got more than enough resolve," she assured him. "If being selfish is all that you're afraid of, you've got nothing to be concerned over. You're human. You're supposed to be selfish from time to time."

"Thanks," Naruto muttered, "But that's not all I'm worried about... It's been what, three days and I've had a collapsed lung and got cut up so badly I've lost more blood than humanly possible? Hari's shattered his right arm and now he's out of commission thanks to chakra exhaustion. Who knows how many days it'll take him for him to get back on his feet? And you... you're constantly in danger because one of us is a liability to you. I hate it! Then there's that Sasuke bastard who's just waiting for a shot to kill me and with all these injuries we're getting, he's going to have an easy time!"

Yugito then said something that shook his very core. "It's okay. We'll make it," the smiled at him, "I believe in Hari and I believe in you."

Naruto turned to her with an almost awed expression. They locked eyes once again and Naruto cupped her cheek as he leant in closer to her. She was blushing, he could clearly see it in the poorly lit hideout, and figured he probably was too but he didn't care. His lips smooched against her as _he kissed her_ tenderly for the briefest of moments. Yugito's breath hitched, leaning into the kiss and as she did his, they were both suddenly very much aware who they were in lip lock with.

"I'm sorry," Naruto said instantly with a furious blush, distancing himself to give her space. "I didn't know what I was doing. I wasn't thinking." He hadn't had the faintest idea why he was vehemently making excuses but he went along with. "I'm sorry," he repeated sincerely.

Yugito was blushing herself but merely nodded. "Of- of course, you were in emotional distress and you merely sought out comfort. It's no big deal, Uzumaki." Her voice had switched back from tender and understanding to impassive and rigid.

"Yeah..." Naruto went along with it. What had just happened was something he would never in his entire life have been able to foresee. Yugito was right; his emotions were out of whack. That's why he kissed her and for no other reason aside from that.

If only he could really believe that.

"You should get some sleep," Yugito told him, hardly looking him in the eye. "It's almost four. I'll wake you up at ten?"

Naruto nodded and crawled into his sleeping bag, facing the other way and hating himself. Not for kissing her but for enjoying it. It wasn't right, he told himself. It _couldn't_ be right.

-ooo-

The following morning Naruto was convinced what had happened the night before was a dream (which in more than one way made it even worse) but he was in for a rude surprise when he noticed how tense Yugito was when handing him a can of baked beans; not to mention his bandages.

"We ran out of fish," Yugito explained needlessly as Naruto began to eat, munching away hungrily on a piece of bread dipped into the sauce. The silence was too uncomfortable. "I'll go wake up Hari," Yugito got up and walked over to Hari and shook the sleeping genin. "Hari, wake up."

"Nhnm... I'm tired, kaa-chan. Can't I cut school jus' for today- ack!" Hari's hands lazily held on to his head. "Okay, I'm up. Jeez, kaa-c- Yugito," he quickly corrected himself, rolling onto his other side to face his teammates. "I'm suffering from chakra exhaustion and you just hit me? You'd make an even worse medic than I do!"

"Shut the fuck up, Hari," Naruto said with annoyance. Hari had been beating himself up over the Kusa genin's death all night and he could tell he wasn't over it yet. "You know you did all you could with that kid. It's not your fault he died. If anything, it's his own fault."

"Of course you'd say that," Hari spat back at him with venom, moving to his side in flustered movement. "You always overlook the negativity, don't you? You don't _really_ care when you fucked up, do you? Of course you wouldn't."

"What's that supposed to mean," Naruto demanded getting up aggressively. He was certainly not above beating the stupidity out of a bedridden Hari. "Wanna repeat that?"

"Sure!" Hari shouted at him, "You-"

Yugito forced a piece of bread down the kenjutsu specialist's throat and made him chew on it rather than choke. "We're not going to argue amongst ourselves just because we had a rough time," Yugito said without unquestionable authority. "Eat your fucking food and shut the fuck up." The kunoichi chided herself for swearing. She had always found it a vulgar habit but Naruto must have rubbed off on her. A bad thought came to her mind with Naruto and 'rubbing off on her' and so she shook her head. "Eat up and get rested. We need to heal our injuries and rejuvenate ourselves. Don't lose focus."

"Aye, taichō!" Naruto and Hari said simultaneously, silently forgiving each other as only best friends could do.

"Good." Yugito for once didn't comment on them for referring to her as the captain. "Naruto you're going to stay here and help Hari recover quicker by chakra transplant," Yugito ordered, reaching for Hari's medical equipment storage scroll as Naruto raised an eyebrow. Yugito unfurled the scroll and made a hand seal to unseal the equipment she was looking for.

"What's that?" Naruto asked her, pointing to the tube in her hands.

"It's a chakra transplant tube. All you need to do is attach this between you and Hari and channel your chakra into it. You've got more than enough to spare, so you can take care of that while I go out to scout and pick off some weaklings."

Naruto caught the tube deftly and held it up. It looked like rubber but didn't quite feel like rubber and rubber didn't conduct chakra very well at all. The tube seemed rather small and inconvenient at first but once Naruto tried to stretch it out it easily became seven feet long. On both ends were white attachments that reminded him of the hospital machinery used to monitor the patients. The _jinchūriki_ attached one end to Hari's chest, who made a point out of acting as if he was a cliché female and Naruto was a pervert out to molest her. Naruto swiftly withdrew his fist from Hari's skull and attached the device to his own chest and made a ram hand seal as he begun channeling his chakra.

"Looks like you have got it under control. I'm going out." Yugito held up her headset and put it on. "I'll be on the radio if you need to contact me but try to keep radio communications to a minimum."

"Be back soon, I don't want to be cooped up here with this jerk off all day," Naruto said with a grin. Yugito didn't smile nor did she bother to reply and lowered the Doryūheki on her way out but maintained her genjutsu. A moment later the earth wall rose once again diminishing the light in their hideout.

"Alrighty then," the knucklehead ninja focused on transferring a good portion of chakra to Hari who groaned contently as he felt slightly rejuvenated. "Keep up with the moaning and you'll be screaming next."

"I don't think I'd be a screamer."

"Fine. Crying," Naruto amended, a tick appearing on his temple. Hari was very skilled at pissing him off when he wanted to be.

"No, that would just be wrong."

Naruto felt like banging his head repeatedly into the ground but continued to channel chakra into through the tube, all the while mumbling in annoyance.

"So what's up between you and Yugito?" Hari felt good enough to sit up and finished the remainders of his beans and bread. The pseudo medic reached for his sheathed ninja-to and pouch. He proceeded to unseal cleaning materials for his sword and polished it as he looked at Naruto expectantly. "Well?"

"What do you mean?" For a second Naruto felt a cold sensation in his stomach. Hari couldn't have been awake and seen them kiss, could he? No, he was sure Hari had been sleeping when it happened.

"You seem awkward," Hari said observantly. "More so than usual so there's gotta be something up. What happened?" Hari dripped polishing oil on a cotton ball on a stick and proceeded to clean the remains blade of his ninja-to with practiced ease of a swordsman. The blade had been practically destroyed by his Jouenryū and now resembled jagged shrapnel rather than a sword but Hari considered it to be of sentimental value as he had the blade since early academy days. "What happened, did you two get freaky while I was asleep? If so, that's just sick and you should be ashamed of yourselves."

"Sort off," Naruto finally admitted with a shrug, fully enjoying Hari's double take and dropped jaw. "It wasn't anything like that, thought. It was just a kiss."

"What? Are you fucking serious- you're serious aren't you?" Hari started laughing in a mixture of disbelief and amusement. "So how was it? And who kissed who– I bet you kissed her, right?"

Naruto sighed exasperatedly. "It was just a kiss. I didn't even know why I did it," he told his best friend. How foolish of him to not see this coming. _"Of course he would want to know all the damn details."_

"So how was it?" Hari sounded like some of the regular village girls that had nothing better do that gossip all day. He was even moving his hands in the same animated fashion. Naruto briefly remembered a flock of them following him a few years ago when he was twelve about a girl's confession. He also remembered he had scared them to death by turning his eyes red and slit with Kyūbi's influence.

"Did you use your tongue? I bet you did, you dirty bastard! Say, did you get to," Hari made odd movements with fingers appearing to be groping invisible breasts. "Did you?"

"Would you please just shut the fuck up about it?" Naruto grew increasingly annoyed with his friend, tempted to break the ninja-to in his hands for the second time. This time there would be no bounty money to fix the damn thing. "It was nothing. It didn't mean anything at all. We were just talking and it got negative and shit- you know how it goes!"

Hari swiftly moved to dodge the empty can of beans aimed for his head and grinned idiotically. "Sure, it meant nothing. If that's what you're saying," Hari trailed off. "I just don't see why you give it a shot," he said eventually.

"Because I don't see her in that way," Naruto said firmly for what felt like the hundredth time. A part of him knew he was trying to convince himself as much as Hari, yet he refused to acknowledge it. "I've known her since I was a kid. Do you really expect me to try and get in her pants now, at this stage after hating each other for _years?_" It was a sarcastic comment but Hari's eyes lit up,

"I didn't say anything about getting in her pants but while you're on the subject-" Hari's retort died in his throat once he caught Naruto's murderous glare but was stilling grinning so much it looked as if his face as splitting in two.

Naruto changed his hands from a ram hand seal to a serpent hand seal and abruptly raised the earth under Hari sending him flying over a foot in the sky with a yelp. Naruto chuckled loudly to Hari's profound swearing.

…

Yugito hopped branches in swift movements, her chakra suppressed to the lowest point she could get it. She was headed for the site where they had fought the coalition of genin from smaller villages in the hopes of finding a discarded scroll or some other useful information. The kunoichi thought of the battle and frowned, looking out in front of her, sensing around her area. The odds there would actually be anything worthwhile were slim but it was better than nothing. They had two Earth scrolls and one Darkness scroll. She wasn't quite sure how he had managed to secure it, although Naruto said he found a team of Kirigakure genin at their hideout but she knew he was leaving something out that made him act embarrassed.

The battlefield was much like it was hours ago Yugito thought upon arriving closer to the clearing. That was when she felt three strong chakra signatures and three slightly less impressive chakra signals. The kunoichi went through a string of hand seals, "Meisaigakure no Jutsu." The familiar cold sensation as if a bucket of ice water had been dripped over her washed over her body. A moment later Yugito was concealed to the blind eye.

Yugito neared the clearing to see a familiar team from Sunagakure consisting of the attractive blond kunoichi with pigtails dressed in purple garb with fishnet and wielding a giant fan; the lanky genin in a black full-body jumpsuit with a figure wrapped up in gauze on his back and lastly the short of stature leader with teal eyes, dressed in blood red shinobi garb that matched his hair and a giant gourd on his back and purple body armour. They were being confronted by a team from Takigakure from what Yugito could tell.

The Nibi no Bakenekō _jinchūriki_ darted between branches and approached the two teams, leaning against the wall and listening intently. Listening was easier from her new position and Yugito could finally make out what they were saying.

_"I suggest you just hand over your scrolls. Tell you what, hand over that woman, too."_ The Takigaru shinobi motioned to Temari as she was a piece of meat, not even making eye contact with her but looking at Kankurō instead as if he owned her. Yugito figured he had thought the lanky genin was the genin because of his height. _"Hand her over along with your scroll and we'll definitely let you two guys live."_

In a blink of an eye the Suna kunoichi had raised his fan and slammed it down on the Taki genin, driving him headfirst into the ground with a cracked skull, blooding seeping out the sides of his head. Yugito's eyes narrow, that was much quicker than she had thought the kunoichi could have moved with her fan. The two remaining genin jumped back threw a hail of kunai and shuriken at the kunoichi. _"Move! You're fast enough!"_ Yugito shouted mentally. However the kunoichi didn't have to move as sand had burst out of the gourd on the red haired genin's back and protected his teammate. Yugito's eyes incredibly when the two genin had used some sort of earth canon jutsu that was useless against the sand barrier.

"Sabaku Kyū!" The redhead made a grabbing motion of the hand towards the shorter, plump genin and engulfed him in stand. Yugito heard his blood curling screams and resisted the urge to wince as his eyes began to pop out off his head. Her eyes widened once again knowing what was going to happen next. "Sabaku SōSō!"

A shower of blood blinded her and all she _could_ was the red shade of oxidized blood. The last Taki genin turned on his heel and ran in absolute terror in Yugito's direction causing her to reinforce her camouflage jutsu. To her immense surprise the sand continued to pour out of the gourd and followed the skinny genin through the forest, tearing down trees including that of Yugito, forcing her to jump to another.

The genin was caught in another tight grip and dragged back as he screamed in absolute terror, calling out for help to any person or deity out there. "NO!" he screamed in a futile attempt to claw himself out of the sand.

"Finish him Gaara," the kunoichi shouted to her teammate who didn't even reply to her and merely clenched his fist and caused another blood fountain. Not even a speck of bone was amongst the gory sight. The pressure of the sand must have been so powerful it pulverized bones to dust.

Yugito eyed the redhead known to be Gaara look around the area, apparently sensing another presence. _"Impossible,"_ Yugito thought looking up to see sand aggregating above her in to strange cloud-like figures. She knew he had detected her somehow and darted backwards a split second before the tree she was hiding in was bombarded by long sand needles that tore it down with ease. Yugito sensed another attacker to her right and saw the pigtailed kunoichi Temari slam her fan against the wind shouting, "Tatsu no Ōshigoto!" A miniature tornado came crashing towards her, prompting Yugito to activate her Raikō Jōshō and dodge to the right and reach for her wakizashi in time to deflect a hail of kunai and shuriken hurled at her by the lanky genin called Kankurō who had pulled out a puppet that shot projectiles from its mouth. Yugito gracefully flipped through the air and propelled herself backwards by Raikō Jōshō to avoid a wave of sand.

The Nibi jinchūriki stabbed the ground with the wakizashi in her left hand to halt her movements and charged a Raiken in her right to pummel back the sand in front of her. Her eyes widened as her Lightning Fist proved to be useless to stop the sand that engulfed her in tight grip. Gaara appeared before her with an emotionless mask, his teal eyes locking with her dark orbs.

"The Shukaku recognizes you," Gaara stated, folding his arms over his chest as his teammates appeared next to him, sneering at Yugito. Gaara continued to stare at her as if expectant of an answer. "Why does mother know you?"

"W- what?" Yugito managed say under the crushing pressure of the sand. The kunoichi had no idea what was happening and why Gaara was asking her strange questions but she decided to play along to buy herself some time. "I don't know who Shukaku is."

Gaara made a gripping motion with his hand towards Yugito and increased the pressure, making her grit her teeth in pain. "Mother knows you… tell me who you are or I'll kill you." The psychotic look in his eyes even unnerved his teammates who subconsciously stepped back in fear. "Mother knows you… mother wouldn't lie to me… Tell me who you are or I'll kill you!"

Yugito bit down on her lip, piercing it with fang to keep herself from screaming. "I don't know who your mother or this Shukaku person is!" Yugito shouted at him spiking her chakra to tremendous levels. Now wasn't the time to be suppressing her reserves; she was about to get killed. "Kya!" Yugito shouted, exploding in blue chakra flames and effectively breaking the Sand Binding Coffin, sending sand in exploding in all directions. The kunoichi activated her Raikō Jōshō and darted backwards, forming a Shūrai in her hand and throwing the beam of lightning at Gaara.

The sand instantly shot up to block the lightning. An explosion further propelled her back, allowing her time to unsheathe her ninja-to, having dropped her wakizashi. She dropped sidestepped a rush of sand and darted forward with a series of somersaults and Gaara. "Kumo Ryū! Kakū Kibukiri Giri!"

_(Jutsu: Kumo Ryū! Kakū Kibukiri Giri - Cloud Style! Overhead Decapitating Slash!)_

She shot forward and incredible speeds past the sand, her speed enhanced considerably by her Lightning Climb technique. Yugito's eyes widened in absolutely shock, having slashed downwards the genin's head only to see him still standing with his arms crossed and the skin on his head merely _cracked._ He smiled at her with psychotic look on his face and his eyes had turned dark yellow with strange markings. Gaara was practically radiating biju chakra. Yugito was so shocked she was caught off guard and propelled backwards and fell to the ground in several painful skids before she ploughed the earth with her ninja-to like she had done with her wakizashi.

"You're a jinchūriki!" Yugito called out, almost questioning rather than stating like she had intended to. "Impossible," she muttered to herself but then soon realized there was nothing improbable about this. Still, to find one of the nine jinchūriki here? It was mind boggling but she paid it no further heed.

Gaara's sand swirled around him but made no further movement to attack. "You are ajinchūriki like me. Like that boy." Gaara stepped forward, his sand dangerous flicking at this teammates as if to warn them what would happen if they interfered. "Neither of you will threatened my existence. I will kill you. Devour your blood. I will allow the Ichibi… Shukaku… my mother to feast on you." The sand massed around Gaara as he began to literally leak yellow chakra, growing a sand tail and claws. Once his transformation was completed he appeared to be a giant tanuki, standing hunchbacked and drooling saliva down his chin.

"If you want to play, come at me!" Yugito said snapping into full battle mode. She was going to go all out against a fellow _jinchūriki._ It wasn't like she had another choice, as a demon container herself she knew better than to underestimate him. "Prepare yourself, Gaara!" she called out to him shifting into her own pseudo transformed form. Blue and black flames enveloped her, her nails grew to claws, her dark orbs gained blue slits as her gained dark rims similar to Gaara and her hair grew longer.

…

Kankurō and Temari looked at each and nodded, beyond unnerved and took to the trees to get to safety. Monstrous levels emitted from the _jinchūriki_ and neither of them were naïve enough to believe Gaara would hold back to prevent hurting them. He had shown affection towards them on rare occasions, particularly to Temari, but if it came to any battle he wouldn't hold back no matter who he could possibly harm. "Gaara, be careful!" Temari yelled in concern. The desert rose turned to Kankurō and swallowed thickly. "Gaara's the Ichibi. So this girl has to have a stronger biju than him if she's also a _jinchūriki_…"

"It'll be fine," Kankurō assured her. "This is Gaara we're talking about. Have a little faith, Temari!" He chided her and focused on the battle. A confident smirk crept to his painted visage. "He'll rip her apart."

…

Yugito's chakra spiked to levels triple that of an average jōnin; the ground under her began to crack with the pressure of the biju chakra that began to swirl around her. Going through hand seals she generated a massive amount of electricity around her. In her initial _jinchūriki_ mode she could afford to aggregate as much as she wanted with disregard to the burns the Nibi would heal almost instantaneously. Yugito slid into a wide-legged stance and flared an enormous Raikō Jōshō, knowing the Nibi would prevent muscle strain and chakra exhaustion, and shot forward at Gaara at blinding speeds with both her hands covered in lightning. Gaara's sand shot forward in anticipation but Yugito simply shot through it at amazing speed and ran her right hand through Gaara's chest, "Raikyū!" It turned out to be a sand substitute, Yugito realized as it dropped to the floor and Gaara appeared behind her. The Ichibi _jinchūriki_ slapped his hands together and spat a burst of wind, "Mugen Sajin Daitoppa!" A powerful sand storm blasted Yugito with such velocity she had crashed through a tree and skid over the ground three times before she could regain her bearings.

_(Jutsu: Mugen Sajin Daitoppa – Infinite Sand Cloud Great Breakthrough!)_

Crouched on one knee, bleeding from a head wound that was already being healed, Yugito held out her palms and shot out lightning she had siphoned from her Raikō Jōshō, forced to act quickly to push back the charging sand wave. Yugito sped forward, running across the remaining sand as nimble as cat, and jumped into the sky and landed a heel drop on Gaara's enormous claw. Yugito grinned in a feral fashion, enjoying Gaara's shocked expression as it down on him, "Tobigeri!" Yugito flared her chakra and fired her jutsu point black on Gaara, kicking the lightning at him and launching herself backwards, her flight strengthened by the explosion. Gaara, who screamed horribly as the lightning used the sand as a current, reached out with another claw at Yugito, lengthening the claws to dangerous sharp proportions to turn Yugito into a pincushion. The kunoichi twirled through the air and pulled off a quick replacement jutsu with a boulder, narrowly avoiding certain death.

'I need to end this quickly before this gets out of hand. He might be able to transform and in that's the case…' Yugito eyed the Suna _jinchūriki_'s sand claw charge at her over a twenty feet distance. She charged towards it in a feint and darted to the right, past the claw and jumped on it, running towards Gaara with her hands aimed like dual revolvers at the redhead as she shot a barrage of her Raigan. The sand shot up and stabbed her in the calf, causing Yugito to fall forward with a shocked expression as the stream of sand formed a cocoon around her. "_Shit!"_ Yugito cursed herself. She should have known better than try the same tactic to land a hit. Her fire like chakra lightened the cocoon that was beginning to close grow spikes and close in on her.

This did not look good.

…

"He's got her!" Kankurō said with an uncharacteristically enthusiastic fist pump. Even he had his doubts about Gaara, but as usual his younger brother had pulled through and emerged victorious. The puppeteer laughed triumphantly, nudging his sister. "See? I told you he'd win. Gaara is invincible!"

Temari merely sighed in utter relief. For a moment she had thought Gaara could possibly have met his end. "I know. What was I thinking?" Temari laughed, smirking confidently and with pride of her younger brother. They were an awkward bunch, but she knew Gaara did care for them, like they cared for them. Temari chided herself ever doubting Gaara and leaned against the tree, crossing her arms.

A sudden burst of colossal chakra stronger burst to the sky like a geyser of brilliant, vibrant bluish-black flames.

…

"KYAH!" Yugito burst free from cocoon and shot thirty feet into the sky. She descended with such force a crater appeared in the earth her feet had touched. Yugito stood hunched backed, her features having intensified in her animalistic transformation. The laces that had kept her hair in a ponytail had been disintegrated, leaving her with a wild mane. A chakra tail sprouted from her spine and stood poised over her shoulder. With a deep growl, an arrow-like attack was shot from the tail and collided with Gaara's sand shield that took a yellow hue as he roared back at her. The masses of chakra collided and glowed a blinding white before erupting.

_BOOM!_

The giant explosion caused a massive wind blast to tear through the _Forest of Death_, tearing down trees, dislodged boulders and even sent animals flying past. The epicentre of the explosion had been reduced to nothing but one giant crater that sunk ten feet into the ground.

Yugito leaned against a tree, nursing the deep cut in her shoulder as she peered over the tree into the area. _"That couldn't have been strong enough to finish him," _Yugito concluded but she took the opportunity to retreat now. In their brief exchange, she could tell Gaara was enslaved by the beast inside him and was ruled by it. She couldn't keep up her _jinchūriki_ form long enough to defeat him without turning into the Nibi. A feat she could keep up for less than twenty minutes before the Nibi would take over. Gaara did not have those handicaps, Yugito knew. He was already under the control of the Ichibi.

-ooo-

Naruto move his hand from left to right unable to decide. In front of him sat Hari with a sinister smile that seemed to increase as Naruto's uncertainty festered. Hari motioned his hands to the _jinchūriki_ to pick a card. They had nothing to do other than play a game of cards. Hari's chakra exhaustion had been treated so far as chakra went but he still had to deal with the torturous body afflictions such as chakra exhaustion, the occasional vomiting and aches as a result of his body having been forced to go in overtime to generate more chakra to keep him alive the night before.

"Ah, fuck this!" Naruto looked at the joker and threw his hand in the air and lay on the floor ignoring Hari's sniggering. "Where the hell is Yugito?" Naruto sat up and pulled on his sandals, noting they had corroded significantly. He would have to buy a new pair when he got out of the forest. "You cheating bastard."

"I didn't cheat." Hari laid down leaning on his elbow shoving his hand down his trousers to scratch his itchy behind whilst yawning like a sloth. The kenjutsu specialist did not have to mind his distasteful habits without Yugito around. "Where are you going?"

"Taking a leak," Naruto replied as he sunk through the ground and disappeared.

Outside of their new hideout, Naruto rushed over to another tree, unzipping trousers hurriedly to empty his bladder. Sighing contently he took his time when he suddenly felt a very familiar chakra signature from a distance. "Yugito!" Naruto said out loud. He reached for his communications set still attached to his neck and pressed the button. "Yugito, are you there? Yugito!"

_Bzzzshttt_

No reply. Her radio signal was dead. Naruto frowned with worry, making a hand seal and created ten Kage Bunshin. He instructed two to go inside and guard Hari and had the rest transform into boulders, pieces of wood and even animals to blend in with the area.

…

Naruto ran into the direction figuring hoping branches would be an annoyance at this stage. Instead he ran at a considerable speed, faster than most genin could even keep up with. The short of stature genin clenched his fist as he ran so deep in thought as to why Yugito had released the Nibi he almost missed the bolts darting towards him. In one fluid moment, he turned around with a kunai in his hand deflected bolts, instantly recognizing the attack he had encountered before.

_Cling! Cling! Cling!_

The bolts deflected, Naruto gripped his kunai and slide into a stance simultaneously closing his eyes and depending on his sense of smell and hearing. Snapping his eyes open Naruto delivered a palm strike, delivering an overpowered, "Akkai Genshuku!" The blast was three times its regular size and crashed into a branch covered by low hanging leaves. Naruto's body moved on its own accord as he instinctively bent his knees and leaned back to cleanly avoid to blades coming from his left and right. Naruto squashed his surprise at being so callously attacked by fellow Kumo ninja and jumped back on to his hands and spun his legs in a series of kicks whilst performing a handstand. His attackers quickly withdrew themselves unable effectively block the thick metal shin guards but quickly returned for dual overhead slashes Naruto recognized as part of the Cloud kenjutsu style.

_(AN: Naruto's handstand attack is like Sanji's from One Piece.)_

Naruto launched himself in the air with sheer physical strength and gripped onto his bare wrist. 'Yadama Fūin!'Naruto activated the tattoo on his wrist and fired and continuous stream of kunai at Tira and Lyra. The sisters got into a practiced position and deflected the incoming projectiles. Much to his dismay Naruto cancelled his Fūinjutsu and created three Kage Bunshin to pull him aside to avoid the incoming streaks of chakra emitting from the sisters' blades. Naruto recognized it to be a technique he had seen samurai make use of in _Ritoru Haaku_. The last clone that was supposed to grab on to him was dispelled by a hail bolts, reminding Naruto there was a third attacker. He turned and held his arms in a cross in front of him to block the kick that send him crashing into and sliding across the ground with gritting teeth. He had no idea what they were thinking but he couldn't afford to hold back simply because they were his comrades, not that they seemed to have the same reservations for attacking him.

"I'm going to give you three only one chance to get out of my way or I'm going to tear you apart," Naruto stood up straight, facing the trio. If he wasn't so serious, he would have cracked a particularly vulgar sex joke to get on Shira's nerves but now wasn't the time for games. Yugito needed him. "Move."

"Mhm? Oh, you can't possible serious!" Shira giggled in amusement, mocking his warning. "We're not leaving until we got what we came for." Shira looked deadly serious and raised her one-handed crossbow. "Issen Sashijō!" Shira fired her crossbow, shooting off hundreds of crossbow bolts and Naruto in an instant. Having already encountered the technique, Naruto slid through and disappeared, only to appear under the trio with three others clones that gripped the girls by their ankles and pulled them down through the earth.

"Nice panties. Purple suits you, Shira," Naruto commented appearing before the team of kunoichi, whom were all stuck neck deep into the ground. Naruto turned and made a run for the direction he had last felt Yugito's chakra. "I'll let the clones free you when I've gotten out of here!"

A few hundred yards further down the forest, Naruto mentally commanded his clones to release the kunoichi and learned they had been viciously decapitated but not before warning of retribution. Now wasn't the time to wonder what Shira's deal with him was Naruto reminded himself, continuing his pacing.

-ooo-

Sasuke made his way through the forest with his teammates beside him. Sakura was still celebrating her victory over two kunoichi from Sound she had singlehandedly killed, although had it not been for the fact the entire genin coalition sent from Otogakure had been killed in front of her by Sasuke they wouldn't have fallen into hysteria and become easy pickings. Regardless, Sasuke was somewhat impressed the rosette had gone ahead with it and killed the kunoichi and even more so that she was proud of the achievement. The Uchiha ruled it out as his and Sai's influence over her, yet didn't see that in an particularly positive light.

"So, Sakura-san how does it feel to know out of all the kunoichi from our generation you have the smallest cup size?" Sai asked her with his perpetual smile. "A36's are quite modest."

"Sai!" Sakura took a swing at the ink user with a raging blush. "It's one thing to insult people but it's a whole other thing to comment on girl's breasts! How do you know my size anyway?"

"You see, Ino appears to have C38's," Sai ignored her question, sidestepping another swing to the face. "Doesn't just make want to... _kill yourself_ to know you can easily be mistaken for a man?"

"S- Sai!" Sakura covered her chest with a red hot blush, feeling a wave of insecurities plague her mind. Her celebrative mood had been completely ruined.

"As to how I know your size, I saw you bathing in the like and noticed you had left your garments by the side," Sai pressed on with his perpetual smile, "Don't worry. I didn't peek on you. It's not like your slim hips and flat chest could arouse any man."

Sasuke looked over his shoulder at Sai, silencing him with just one look. The ink user knew better than to provoke an Uchiha, Sasuke mused, letting go of his chikutō's hilt. Once Sai had started raining down the insults, he wouldn't stop. Out of experience, Sasuke knew it was best to stop the emotionless genin before it got out of hand and he got involved in Sakura's never ending rants. It still boggled his mind how much she could speak continuously.

Sasuke stopped dead in his tracks; his teammates eyed him with confusion, wondering why he stopped. Sakura opened her mouth but was silenced with a wave of Sasuke's hand. The Uchiha turned around, Sharingan eyes spinning wildly in his eyes. "Come out. You cannot hide from these eyes."

Three individuals appeared before team Kakashi. The first one to appear in the middle was a tall muscular teenager greyish coloured skin. The teenager had white, needle like hair that him look rather odd and was dressed in blood red shinobi styled pants with black shinobi sandals and bandages wrapped around his ankles and shins. Most notably, he had a large tattoo of a manticore on his chest, easily spotted through his white, long-sleeved open shirt. Sasuke narrowed his eyes, noticing the genin had no pouches or holsters or anything else remotely shinobi like other than his Kiri headband.

"Look what we have here, Tetsuya-chan. This kid is an Uchiha. He's even flashing the Sharingan!" The second individual was a young kunoichi dressed in blood red kakis and a matching hood that stopped slightly above her naval, showing over her lean and curvy figure. The kunoichi had carried a beige coloured utility belt that had dozens of pouches that went along her hips. The carried two scrolls on the small of her back suspend by wire attached to her collar. "Lou, which one do you want?"

Lou was a freakishly tall genin who appeared to be around sixteen like his teammates. Lou sported a buzz cut (similar to Zabuza, Sasuke noted) and had brass knuckles and several windmill shuriken strapped to his back, secured by utility belt he wore his shoulder. Sasuke noticed Lou carried four pouches on his hips. They were similar to the medical supply pouches Sakura carried.

Sasuke rested his hand on his blade with supreme confidence as his teammates got into fighting stances of their own. Sai pulled out his tantō while Sakura withdrew her custom made, long kunai. "What do you want?" Sasuke assumed they were after his scroll, but surely they would have taken a more ninja like instead of approaching them. _"Unless they're confident we're not a threat to them,"_ Sasuke mused with a faint smile as if amused by the situation and deactivated the Uchiha sight.

Tetsuya stepped forward with an outstretched hand, locking eyes with Sasuke and move curled his fingers. "Your scrolls. Hand them over and we will let you live," he said with supreme confidence.

"Oh?" Sasuke chuckled bemused, waving a hand for Sakura and Sai to stand down. "What makes you so confident you can approve us out in the open and demand our scroll?"

"Just hand over your fucking scrolls or yer dead!" Megumi stepped forward and went to grab Sasuke by his shirt. Her eyes widened when Sasuke seemed to glide past her and come to a halt behind her with his blade three-quarters sheathed.

"How foolish," Sasuke spat, sliding the blade fully into the sheath with _click!_ A rain of blood erupted from the kunoichi, causing her to fall face forward in pool of blood.

The kunoichi's teammates attacked. Tetsuya shot towards Sasuke with an outstretched hand as if to grab him. Sasuke narrowly avoid a hidden blade that shot out to impale his head. _"No, that's not a blade," _Sasuke corrected himself as Tetsuya recreated the greyish coloured bone into his forearm. "A bloodline limit? How interesting."

Tetsuya looked him in the eye in a daring manner and reached to his collarbone. "I am one of the remaining descendants of the Kaguya clan of Kiri. My name is Tetsuya and I am a wielder of the Shikotsumyaku. Prepare to meet your demise, Uchiha. You may well have lived if you had simply surrendered your scrolls!"

_(Kekkei Genkai: Shikotsumyaku – Dead Bone Pulse!)_

Sasuke shot forward, unsheathing his chitukō in a blink on an eye and shot past Tetsuya, landing a clean cut on the teenager two years his senior. Sasuke turned around swiftly and raised his blade. _"No blood? Yet I had a clean strike on him."_

"I gave you that opening to illustrate the power of the Shikotsumyaku," Tetsuya turned face Sasuke, his torso not so much as scratched by the powerful swipe. "The Shikotsumyaku grants us Kaguya clan members full control of our bone growth. Our bones are harder than steel," Tetsuya reached to his shoulder and withdrew an upper arm bone the size of a regular katana. "I am different from most clan members however. I was born with a rare strain of the Shikotsumyaku that has made my bones actual steel. Tsubaki no Mai!"

_(Jutsu: Tsubaki no Mai - Dance of the Camelia!)_

"Oh?" Sasuke smirked at the Dead Bone Pulse user with delight at encountering a strong opponent. "Then I suppose I owe you my best. I will not hold back, Kaguya!" Sasuke's eyes spun wildly with the three tomoe Uchiha sight. Sasuke speedily shot forward at and clashed with the Kaguya descendant, engaging him in a duel.

Meanwhile the kunoichi that supposedly died had gotten on her feet and attacked Sai, who had stood by as Sakura engaged Lou in a close combat fight. Sasuke's Sharingan picked up a usual chakra from the kunoichi, it was blood red in colour and it simply felt _foul._ Sasuke's distraction cost him a swift, shallow cut across the cheek but he parried the next blow and got Tetsuya on the defensive, striking him twice on the chest although it did not appear to cause any harm. "Another kekkei genkai?" Sasuke dashed backwards and deflected a hail of bone projectiles Tetsuya shot with his left hand.

"No," Tetsuya answered just as casual. "She comes from the Akagai clan. They are skilled shinobi that make use of a special ninjutsu known as a Chiton. Due to their specialized Blood Release ninjutsu, their bodies can sustain blood loss injuries much longer than the average person."

"You are awfully forthcoming with your answers," Sasuke pointed out as they entered another stalemate. "Why is that?" He found it remarkably curious why the Kiri genin gave away his teammate's secret without so much batting an eye.

"You will die regardless. That is why I answer the questions you ask, Uchiha!" Tetsuya pushed Sasuke back with such force he sent him skidding backwards across the ground. "Teshi Sendan!" Tetsuya aimed his left hand at Sasuke once again and shot off a barrage of metal bullets.

_(Jutsu: Teshi Sendan – Drilling Finger Bullets!)_

"I'll teach you to look down on the Uchiha!" Sasuke darted forward, deflecting the Drilling Finger Bullets and ducked under swipe directed to his head and spun around with a counter of his own, "Shishimai!" Sasuke twirled his blade, moving his wrists in odd angles and delivered powerful, vicious attacks to Tetsuya. The Kaguya's eyes widened briefly, thinking his eyes were deceiving him as he saw _lions charging at him._ Sasuke's flurry lived up its name, forcing Tetsuya on the retreat and nearly blinding the Kaguya clan member who managed to dodge a strike to his eyes with only a few hairs sacrificed.

_(Jutsu: Shishimai – Lion Dance!)_

While Sasuke and Tetsuya continued their duel, Sai and Sakura had engaged Megumi and Lou respectively. The ink user had so far been dodging every kick and punch Megumi had thrown at him, his perpetual smile never leaving his expression. Although he seemed to be taking it easy, Sai had eaves dropped on the conversation between the Kaguya and Uchiha and was now merely waiting for the Chiton jutsu.

"May I ask you a question?" Sai asked politely, jumping backward to avoid a high kick to the head. He was close enough to Sakura and Lou who were exchanging blows, the metal kunai clanged loudly against the brass knuckles.

"What's that, coward?" Megumi slid into a stationary stance to catch her breath and pulled her hood down. Her high cheek bones, brilliant green orbs and fully lips were an attractive sight. Megumi was the kind of woman that unarguably could go through life depending merely on her looks.

"What is your cup size?" Sai stuck himself to a tree, tilting his head in a confused manner. "Your breasts seem rather large. I'd like to show my kohai what she should strive for."

"Eh?" Megumi sounded like some Yakuza member. It was unsightly, yet did nothing to diminish her attractiveness. "These?" She held on to her breast, shaking them up and down. "These are D cups!" The vulgar tomboy said turning to look at Sakura. "Is your kohai even a woman? I can't tell if she's got any tits! Meh, I would've gladly traded with her, these bastards will gimme lower back problems at some point and they're a hassle in a fight." Megumi shook her breasts once more for emphasis to show how much they jiggled. "Tried using feckin' bandages but those are jus' uncomfortable!"

"S- Sai!" Sakura called to him with annoyance. Her distraction cost her a rock hard punch to the face that sent her to ground in a sprawl. Lou was on to her with, pressing one with a range of kicks and punches. Sakura got in a one-knee crouch, held up her arm to block a kick but it came with more force than she had counted for and rolled across the ground, making her drop her kunai in process. Lou ran towards her attempted another vicious kick Sakura ducked under and countered with a chakra enhanced punch. Lou caught her fist and crushed her hand, his spare hand caught on to her wrist. Sakura dropped her knees under the pressure and gasped in pain. "Ungh!" Lou head butted Sakura with such force she started to bleed.

Megumi reached into one of her pouches and took out a handful of pills Sai recognized as blood replenishing pills. The busty kunoichi went through a string of seals and reared back her head, biting down on cheeks and spat an acidic wave of blood, "Chikemuri!"

_(Jutsu: Chikemuri - Spurt of Blood!)_

The blood wave washed over Sai who drooped down in ink, turning out to be an ink clone. Megumi turned to her left and grabbed on to Sai's hands, attempting to force the tantō out of his hand. Gritting her teeth, she was unable to stop Sai's stab at her, growling in pain as the blade sliced her chest, ruining her hooded garment and revealing a considerable portion of her bust. Megumi spat another blast of Chikemuri at Sai to distract him and popped a few more afterwards.

"I see, so your body can handle far more blood replenish pills than the average person. What else is interesting about your body?" Sai asked, dodging the acidic blood. It collided with a boulder behind it and practically melted it like butter.

"I shave!" Megumi said with a ridiculous sense of pride. The red-clad kunoichi went through another string of hand seals. "Chimidoro!" she shouted as her chakra spiked briefly.

_(Jutsu: Chimidoro – Blood Stained Struggle!)_

Sai narrowed his eyes; he spotted the blood around him pooled to together and seeped towards him at an alarming rate. The ink user jumped flipped backwards and stuck himself to a tree. Withdrawing his scroll and brush, Sai seemed to be finally taking her serious. _"What are you going to do?"_ Sai drew a pack of lions just in the meanwhile, observing the masses of blood pool around Megumi.

Megumi's playful smile disappeared, replaced by a serious expression filled with concentration. She went through a string of seals and spiked her chakra considerably, "Akuchi! Chirappa!" The blood raised and sped towards Sai like a miniature tsunami of blood. The detached genin jumped backwards and called forth two ink lions to buy him sometime. As expected, his creatures didn't have a chance, but Sai continued to draw many more animals at a rapid pace; he was drawing so fast his hand was but a blur in his vision. The ink creatures shot forward and collided with the acidic blood, holding their own for no longer than three seconds on average. Sai flashed his fake smile as ink mixed with the blood in front of him.

_(Jutsu: Akuchi! Chirappa - Impure Blood! Violent Blood Wave!)_

The impassive genin launched himself and Megumi at an incredible speed, shooting past her acidic blood that nicked but a small piece of his sandals. Sai rounded on her with a flurry of precise slashes aimed for her veins. The more she bled the better. He made quick work of her defenses as he pressed on her, slashing her wrist and neck. The Akagai kunoichi had an impressive threshold to pain, Sai admitted, but she eventually screamed in pain and retreated, popping a few blood pills with shaking hands from severe blood loss. They weren't working quickly enough so she made a ram hand seal and shouted, "Yuketsu!" in a hurry. The blood shot towards her and entered in her wounds, restoring her blood. It was a sickening sight to say the least but the impassionate genin maintained his smile. The fight had already been concluded and victory was his.

"What are ye smilin' about ye bastard?" Megumi shouted at him going through another string of hand seals.

"I have already won and you have failed to notice," Sai didn't even bother to move. "This battle has already concluded."

"Yeah?" Megumi shouted, "I'll show you!" Her chakra spiked considerably for a moment but instantly plummeted as she fell forward with wide eyes. Her blood had turned black once she had tried to withdraw blood from her open wounds. "Yo- you poisoned me with your ink!"

"That's correct!" Sai told her with his perpetual smile, stepping towards her with his tantō raised and poised for a mercy blow. "And now you die."

"Lou!" Megumi called out to her teammate who was in the process of beating Sakura to a pulp. The genin turned around, swiftly kicking Sakura in the ribs hard enough to send her crashing through a tree and ran towards his teammate, throwing a hail of kunai towards Sai who deflected them with ease. Lou jumped forward and blocked the downwards slash Sai had intended for Megumi. The taijutsu specialist had superior physical strength and a weight advantage to begin with and so easily pushed back Sai with enough force to make him skid across the ground with his feet an inch into the earth.

"Tetsuya!" Lou called out, looking to his right. His eyes widened once he saw Tetsuya being pushed back by Sasuke whose blade was now cackling with lightning.

The Uchiha dominated his Kaguya adversary, using his lightning affinity to severely injure Tetsuya by using his opponent's metal bones for a conduct. "So this is why you are genetic defect? Being made from actual steel is not a blessing, it's a curse," Sasuke stated as he held his blade aloft to his side, stepping back from a kneeling Tetsuya.

"Tetsuya!"

Sasuke sheathed his katana with one fluid moment and turned to leave, deactivating his Sharingan as he did so. "This battle is over, Tetsuya. Come face me when you have become stronger," Sasuke moved over to Sakura who quickly got on her feet in a hurry, sporting cuts and bruises as a result from the thrashing she got of Lou. "You," Sasuke addressed Lou who held onto Megumi. "Hand over your scroll before I kill you. The Kaguya is the only one of you that interests me. You are expendable."

Lou did not waste any time and reached into his pouch and withdrew another Light scroll and chucked it over to Sasuke, "Here!" Lou gripped on tighter to Megumi, picking her up and ran over to Tetsuya. "We won't forget this Uchiha!"

"Good," was Sasuke's reply, chucking the Light scroll to Sai. Without a word they left the team of Kirigakure.

"I will come for you one day, Uchiha! Then we will settle this!" Tetsuya shouted.

Sasuke merely smiled. _"I look forward to it. Become stronger, seek vengeance and come for me. I will gladly face you, Kaguya Tetsuya."_

-ooo-

"Yugito, come in!" Naruto tapped the radio once more, hoping to get a good signal. Yugito had yet to reply and her chakra signature had diminished once again. There was something definitely wrong.

_Bzzzzsht_

Naruto swore loudly. He closed his eyes and focused on his surroundings, hoping to catch a noise or her scent. His nose began to twitch, sniffing lilacs in the air. Yugito smelled of lilacs, it was her shampoo fragrant. He knew this because he had helped her pack her things. With a sigh of relief Naruto speedily ran into the source of the smell. He ran for a minute when he felt something was wrong. As he ran he had stepped on an oddly stray twig where there hardly any trees. A person bodily tackled him from the side, however Naruto's body moved on its own thanks Kirabi's drills. He took the brunt of the tackle on his shoulder, raising his leg to turn the momentum in his favour and deliver an effective hip throw. He quickly jumped on to his attacker with a kunai appearing in his hand.

"Y- Yugito?" Naruto's eyes widened in realization of who he was straddling. Naruto locked eyes with Yugito, noticing her enraged look as if she was about to kill him. He met her eyes with confusion and followed her gaze down. Naruto hand gripped onto something soft and fleshy. For good measures he squeezed again. His heart stopped once he saw the blush on Yugito's face intensify.

No.

"N- No! No, no, no!"

He did not just do what he thought he had done.

"Yu- Yugito I'm so- sorry!"

Yugito's knee shot up, followed by ear-splitting screams and repeated blows to flesh.

-ooo-

"What happened to you?" Hari shouted once he saw Naruto's appearance. He had been in the middle of adding another privacy seal tag, having won a few games of cards against one of Naruto's clones when the original came stumbling with a swollen face, a black eye, broken nose and a swollen lip.

"He fell," Yugito cast the Kyūbi's _jinchūriki_ to the ground where he fell with a sound thud and a painful groan. The red tinge still visible on her cheeks, she crossed her arms with a look of annoyance, looking away as if avoiding making eye contact with either of teammates.

Hari merely laughed drawing his own conclusion. "Sure."

Yugito paused a moment for her teammates to settle and then eyed them with an serious expression. "We've got another jinchūriki out there and he's bad news."

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Heya, guys! I'm in a good mood today; no college tomorrow and I had a ton of reviews for chapter eighteen and today **Kumo Nin has hit 200k HITS!** This all put a massive grin on my face! So, much love to you guys and thank you for your support!

**Easter eggs:** in the last chapter Naruto shouted "JUST COME AT ME BRO" - this is an internet meme of the hit MTV show _Jersey Shore._ I think the show is crap but if you don't know what this line refers to and you want to, just Youtube it and have a laugh. Interestingly enough though, **Sgt. Mehoff** spotted it, so well done, Sarge.

…

**Jutsu Used:**

_(Jutsu: Kumo Ryū! Kakū Kibukiri Giri - Cloud Style! Overhead Decapitating Slash!) - C rank, offensive, short range. This is one of the higher class techniques taught in Kumogakure academy derived from the ruthless and brutal Cloud Style kenjutsu. The user will propel him or herself and spin downwards in a forward flip and slash downwards at an sharp angle to decapitate their opponent. **Parents jutsu:** Kumo Ryū (Cloud Style)._

_(Jutsu: Tobigeri – Dropkick!) - B rank, offensive, short range. Yugito will prepare a Raitoppa (Lightning Breakthrough) and channel the aggregated lightning to her feet to dropkick her opponent and distance herself; if her opponent wears or makes use of any material that conducts lightning the damage will most likely result in either certain death or incapacitation. This technique's full potential has yet to be realized.** Parent jutsu: **Raitoppa (Lightning Breakthrough)._


	20. For Old Time's Sake

**Kumogakure Ninja**

Posted: 10-04-11

Updated: 28-06-11

* * *

CH20: For Old Time's Sake

* * *

(Team Kirabi Campsite)

The following early morning hours Naruto looked at his watch as he turned to the sleeping form of Yugito. It was actually her turn to guard but considering he had his hands on her 'lady parts' and had gotten her angry enough to pummel the living daylights out him he decided not to wake her up. It wasn't as if he hadn't had enough to think about anyway. Naruto sighed; finished his canned drink and got up, making his way towards a corner of their hideout and picked up another can of the sugary drink to keep him awake. The news Yugito had shared with him the day before still plagued his mind.

_"We've got another jinchūriki out there and he's bad news."_

Naruto had spent most of his night wondering what kind of life Gaara must have had for him to become as _evil _as Yugito claimed he was. For hours he asked himself if he could truly understand Gaara and what he would do if he ever faced him. Gaara dedicated his life to proving his existence through killing those around him. Naruto asked himself if he was capable of such acts. He asked himself, had it not been for Kirabi, would he have eventually turned out to be like the Ichibi jinchūriki? Would he have given in to the hate, the loneliness and the anger… would he have become a monster like the adults had claimed him to be? Naruto gave a heavy sigh. He did not have the answers and he resented himself for it. He didn't have the faintest idea what Gaara had been through and what how he viewed the world. Though being a jinchūriki himself, he knew the bitter taste of loneliness, yet he was saved from his loneliness by Kirabi many years ago. In Kumogakure he had found family with the Yotsuki Clan and friends in those he met in the academy. In Kumogakure people saw him for who he was and not beast he imprisoned. Years of contentment had filled the ache, the desire for affection and for that he was grateful. Kirabi had told him stories of the previous Hachibi jinchūriki whom were not as kind as he were; many succumbed to darkness and had to be enslaved through the use of additional mind-altering seals and other methods to prevent them from going rogue.

_"Nothing as a dangerous as a rogue jinchūriki, Naruto. Once a man has been pushed to his limits and over it… once he's been swallowed by despair and hatred there's no going back. That's why you need to be on your guard at all times, Naruto. The bijū feels what you feel and this can either be a good thing or a fucking catastrophe. Nothing is as dangerous as man with nothing to lose. Especially if that man has a bijū."_

Regaining his thoughts Naruto knew the thought of confronting Gaara did not scare him in the slightest. He may be cocksure most of the time but hardly anyone could say that was unjustified. Still… it continued to plague his mind as the possibility of having to kill Gaara was very real. And he knew it wasn't going to be easy. From what Yugito had told him, the Ichibi had full control over Gaara and had him believe he was the jinchūriki's mother. Kirabi had mentioned once how some jinchūriki were ruled by their bijū in the past.

_"The bond between a jinchūriki and his bijū is a strange one, Naruto. It can be either a bond of mutual respect and acceptance or it can be much more sinister than that. In the past, bijū have been able to fester themselves into the minds of jinchūriki and manipulated them into believing and doing unforgivable acts. I know you hate the Kyūbi more than anything Naruto, but believe me when I say if you give him one shot… lower your guard just once… even if you surrender yourself to his power for a moment… he will take that what you cherish the most and will it crush it. He will crush it to rule over you and make you his own weapon. What I'm trying to say is, don't necessarily hate it or love it, 'cause every emotion can be used against you by that bastard. Just keep that in mind. Stay vigilant. Always."_

That was one of the very few serious conversations Naruto had ever had with Kirabi which was why he could remember it so clearly. A part of Naruto still resented Kirabi for having a cooperative bijū that was a friend rather than another enemy like the Kyūbi who would take any given opportunity to fuck him over if it could.

Still, it must be much better than having a bijū that made you think he was the only that cared for you, Naruto mused.

"Uzumaki." Yugito had woken up.

Naruto didn't turn to look at her. "Mhm?" He pretended to be busy with organizing the drinks in their cool box. "What is it? Go back to sleep, Yugito."

"It's been my turn for watch for over two hours. Why didn't you wake me?" Yugito sat up out in her sleeping bag, briefly glancing at Hari to see if she had woke him up. "Whatever is going on between you and me has nothing to do with our guard shifts."

'What exactly is going on between us?' He had wanted to ask her out loud but decided against it. Now wasn't the time for this. Nodding Naruto moved towards his sleeping bag. His eyes not once meeting Yugito's in an odd sense of fear. "Sure, knock yourself out."

Yugito frowned but let it go and rubbed her eyes. 'What's his problem?' Yugito knew he was upset but didn't quite know why. She simply couldn't place her finger on it. Was it the fact that she had brutalized him yesterday? 'No, that couldn't be it. If anything, he got away with it easily.' The scene replayed in her head countless times. She had sensed someone coming her way and decided to tackle her tracker. Before she knew it, she was on her back with Naruto on top who groped her breast not once but _twice._ Then there was the kiss they shared in the early morning before that. The kiss _he_ had instigated. The kiss _she_ has ruled out as a desire for comfort to avoid any awkwardness. In actual fact Yugito knew there was more to it than that. Despite herself she knew a part of her did not want it to end. After tormenting herself for over an hour, Yugito gave up on the thought. Maybe she was attracted to him physically but that was all there was to it. That was all there could be to it. 'Don't fool yourself, Yugito. You despised each other for years and now here you are, considering if there's a possibility you could be attracted to him,' Yugito thought with a frustrated feeling. 'It's ridiculous and now is not the time.'

-ooo-

(Forest of Death)

It was six hours later and team Kirabi was pacing their way through the forest. Hari had recovered from his bout of chakra exhaustion and was chatting away with Naruto, multitasking between that and using his sensory abilities to detect nearby enemies. "We've got two Earth scrolls and one Darkness scroll," Hari counted on his fingers in a simplistic manner. "That means we need to find a Light and a Heaven scroll in what, seven days?"

"Six days," Naruto corrected him. It served as a painful reminder to both of them they had been out of commission for a whole day each. Albeit on separate situations, it was still a heavy truth.

"We need to get those scrolls ASAP so we can go to the tower. I don't know about you but I've had enough of this place. I wouldn't mind getting out of here."

As the pair continued their conversation, Yugito's nose crinkled in disgust. Quickly she smelled herself and pulled a disgusted expression. "That is it!" Yugito said heatedly.

Naruto and Hari turned, "Huh?" they said simultaneously.

"I haven't had a shower in four days. Enough is enough," Yugito said decisively with her arms crossed. "I can hear water close by. I'm assuming that it is a river stream. You two stay here. I will be back in twenty minutes."

"Twenty?" Hari questioned with a quizzical expression as if he had heard something utterly confusing. "Women take that long to wash up?" Hari looked at Naruto who shrugged with a 'Don't ask me' posture.

"Is that a problem?" Nothing in Yugito's voice suggested she would take kindly any opposition. In fact, she sounded like she would give them a sound beating if they did choose to complain. Even the ever impassive Yugito could lose her composure once her hygiene was compromised. Then again, one could hardly blame her. What, with the blood stains on her clothes, the dried mud on in her hair and the dirt on the skin?

"No problem, taichō!" The pair stood in a ridiculous military pose, saluting Yugito in the same fashion some of the Navy sailors had done on the _Todo _when addressing a superior_._ "We'll wait for as long as you want, taichō!"

A tick mark appeared on Yugito's temple. 'When did they get so good at syncing their speech?' She thought. "If I catch either of you trying to sneak a peek… I _will_ kill you and nobody will find out how it happened." That was not an idle threat and judging by the thick swallowing and fearful expressions her teammates had, she knew they understood her perfectly clear. "Now then, I'll be back in thirty minutes."

"Thirty? I thought you said-" Naruto covered his mouth, catching Yugito's glare out of the corner of her eye. "Okay, thirty it is, taichō!"

…

Yugito trudged through the forest to the river bed she had sniffed out. Looking around, she nodded in an appreciative manner to its secluded position. She went through a few strings of hand seals and raised earth walls to create a rectangle bath. Another hand seal later, a dozen clones went to collect dry wood for a fire. Yugito cast a genjutsu on the area to hide its presence, or more specifically make anyone that walked pasted not register it was there. As her clones started a concealed fire under the makeshift bath, Yugito took out her personal storage scrolls and unsealed a bar of soap, her shampoo and conditioners as well as her razor. A kunoichi she may be, but a woman she was first and foremost.

Her clones took a six-pronged defensive position around her bath as she undressed. She first undid her laces that kept her hair up in a ponytail, and then proceeded to pull her shirt over her head, leaving Yugito standing half naked. A clone walked up to her and silently undid her garment strap and folded up her garment. Yugito eyed her reflection in the river water with a sly smile. She was proud of her lean, athletic figure. Unlike most women her age, Yugito wasn't insecure about her bust size either. She preferred them modest rather having them get in her way of fighting or causing lower back problems further down the road. She vaguely remembered Tsunade of the Sannin having similar problems…

Looking around once more, Yugito peeled off her sandals and pulled down her shinobi trousers and remaining garments. Her clones silently folded up her clothes as she stepped into hot bath with a content sigh. Another clone handed her the bar of soap and moulded a headrest for her to lean on. Leaning back into the tub, Yugito reached ran the bar of soap down her long legs with another content sigh.

…

Naruto leaned against a tree to his right and sighed. It hadn't been ten minutes but his patience had already reached its limits. Eyeing Hari take the remains of his ninja-to with a despondent sigh Naruto spoke to him. "Considering you call yourself a kenjutsu specialist, shouldn't you have a spare one?" Naruto asked him curiously. "I mean that one looks like it could fall apart any second now. That jutsu sure did fuck it up."

Hari shrugged. If he had the money to spare he would have bought another but money had been very tight since his father had been incarcerated. The money he made of the bounties on the Akumu Shokō and Shiroi no Saturo he had given to his mother for the rent and to take care of his siblings, Daichi and Nami. "How would I know this one would break? Besides, I've had this one since I was eight," Hari replied, subconsciously resting a hand on his sword's hilt. "It's got sentimental value to me, alright? My uncle bought it for me before he kicked the bucket."

"Your uncle died? When was this?" Naruto could remember the early days when Hari had stopped talking about his father and had started to brag about his uncle instead. At the time he didn't know Hari well enough to care but it made sense now that he knew who was responsible for the Hyūga Incident many years ago.

"A few years ago. Mission gone wrong," Hari answered with a shrug. "It happened a few years ago, it's no biggy."

"Ahuh," Naruto replied dumbly, reaching for his back. "Well, use my ninja-to instead. You're a helluva lot better at kenjutsu than I am and I don't to use it that much either." Naruto fiddled with the strap for a moment and then passed the sword to Hari.

Hari nodded appreciatively and unsheathed it for his inspection. "Jeez, Naruto do you even bother taking care of it? There's still some blood on it," Hari chided him. Any mistreatment of a sword was a crime in his eyes. "I'll clean it before I return it to you."

Naruto grunted noncommittally and leaned against the tree once again where they stood in silence for another ten minutes or so.

"She's taking forever," Hari complained settling the ninja-to on his hip with much chagrin.

"Of course she is," Naruto muttered darkly. He did a typical feminine pose and did a ridiculous wiggle. "Women always take longer than they have to just to piss us off," Naruto nodded his head in a sage like manner. "Yep, that's what they do. Annoy, annoy, nag, criticize and nag some more."

"I'd watch out if I were you," Hari warned him, his eyes darting around in a paranoid manner. The genin leaned against a tree, sliding down for a comfortable seat on the ground.

"Pffsh!" Naruto took off the eye patch Hari had fashioned out of gauze and medical tape. His black eye had disappeared thanks to Kyūbi but the area was still tender and sore. "It's not my fault. She jumped me and I didn't even know it was her at the time."

"Ahuh," Hari replied, clearly unconvinced. "It may seem a bit excessive, but from the beatings I've seen some guys get for hitting on kunoichi back home, she went easy on you."

"Easy my ass. Did you see the state of me last night?" Naruto shivered.

"So which one was it?"

"Huh?"

Hari pulled a lecherous expression, flaring his nostrils and with a comical flush. "The right or left?"

"Perverted bastard. Does it matter?" Naruto asked angrily. Of course, he told himself. Leave it to Hari to make a big deal out of everything.

"Of course it does," Hari told him with a dead serious expression. "Judging on which one you grabbed on to it's easy to determine how seriously pissed her off."

"Fine, the left one," Naruto answered.

A moment later he caught on to Hari's twitching lip. "It doesn't actually matter which one, does it?"

"No, but it's hilarious you believed it!" Hari started to laugh hysterically, holding on to his sides. For a moment it was as if they weren't participating in a deadly Chūnin Exam and were back in Kumogakure training grounds where they would fool around as much they liked. "I mean, come on Naruto!" Hari continued to snigger. "REALLY?"

"How would I know?" Naruto spat with a mixture of anger and embarrassment. "You're an asshole." That was definitely the last time he'd trust Hari with anything in regards to his love life, if he could even call it that. He hadn't actually been with anyone to have a love life, but it was the principle that mattered.

"So how big were the-ough!" Naruto had short forward in a blink of an eye and forced the bawled up gauze in the genin's mouth, practically suffocating the kenjutsu specialist to silence him.

"What are you two doing?" Yugito had arrived, clad in clean spare uniform they had put on for the Chūnin Exam.

Naruto sighed. _"Just in time." _He put on his most innocent smile, digging his fingers in Hari's arm to goad him to play along as said genin coughed out of the gauze with a disgusted expression. "Nothing! Absolutely nothing!"

Yugito eyed them momentarily with suspicion, narrowing her eyes but let it go and walked past them. "Let's go."

"Yes, taichō!"

"And stop it with the synchronized speech."

"Yes," Naruto complied with a nod.

"Taichō," Hari finished.

Yugito swore under her breath.

-ooo-

(In Another Part of the Forest of Death)

Team Manako was engaged in a fight against a team from Takigakure. Saito Kenji was in a stalemate with another genin while his teammate and girlfriend Nakamura Taiko and best friend Tomaro Kenichi were in fights of their own, having been split up by a sudden ambush attack. The Saito Clan member locked eyes with his adversary and began to push him back with a forceful grunt.

"Admirable swordsmanship as expected from a Saito," the Takigakure genin commented. His feet kicked up dirt as Kenji pushed back in the deadlock. "Allow me to introduce myself, I am Yorama Jin. It's a pleasure to meet you!" Jin jumped backwards in a back flip and stuck himself to a tree.

"Yorama Jin, I suggest you call of your comrades," Kenji slid into an offensive stance, poising his blade close to his shoulder. "You are in over your head." Kenji was not being arrogant but was simply telling the truth. His hands went down to his body armour and ran over his clan's coat of arms: two silver kunai parted by golden thunder modeled in the kanji for 'fidelity'. "If you know the clan I hail from, then you know what I am capable of."

"That I do, Saito-san," Jin confirmed with a nod. "Yet that is exactly why I have targeted you."

"Why would you do such a reckless thing?" Kenji felt like shouting at him but kept his composure. At this rate he would actually have to kill his challenger. He was no pacifist, yet he did not enjoy taking a life when it could be avoided like any other _normal _shinobi.

Jin sheathed his blade in his scabbard and spread his arms wide in and laughed in a cackling manner. "Saito-san, I hail from Takigakure. As you probably know it's a relatively weak shinobi village with less than a thousand shinobi. We have no unique ninjutsu or secret arts of value. We are weak because we possess little jutsu that can give us an edge over the Great Five," Jin paused in a theatrical manner, "However, the Yorama Clan is different. We are the strongest shinobi in Takigakure. We are true masters of the blade!"

"You have come to prove that by striking me down," Kenji stated, now fully understanding why he had been challenged out in the open rather than ambushed like most genin teams would do. "By defeating a Saito, Kumo's strongest kenjutsu specialists, you want to send out a message." Kenji tightened his grip on his blade.

"How perceptive! As expected from a Saito! Now," Jin jumped forward and touched down a mere six feet from Kenji, slowly sliding in a stance and withdrawing his blade, "Let us see how well your Saito-Ryū stands up against the Yorama-Ryū."

"Very well, Yorama Jin. I, Saito Kenji will face you in battle," Kenji raised his blade above him, matching Jin. He stood with grace and dignity as a true heir to the Saito Clan. "Let us see whose clan style will prevail!"

In an instant they shot past each other and stood still. Kenji heard the spatter of blood and turned around to finish his opponent when suddenly his own eyes bulged. The Saito Clan member fell onto one knee as blood spurted out of his arching back.

"Hahaha, as expected from a Saito!" Yorama Jin said with an excited grin, nursing his bleeding arm.

"A- as expected from a Yorama," Kenji supported himself on his ninja-to and got to his feet with a matching smile. _"From here on out, I'm going all out," _Kenji resolved as blood trickled down his shoulder. There was no further room for hesitation. He owed his adversary his best.

He would accept his challenge and prove the Saito-Ryū was the superior kenjutsu.

-ooo-

(Team Kirabi)

Naruto arms were up front in their formation as he ran and led his teammates in single line. They had decided to make for the _Tower of Death _and simply wait for the other teams to come near. It was a rather simple tactic and Naruto would have even gone as far to call it 'dirty' however Yugito and Hari were adamant when they made their case. It had taken a lot of convincing but eventually Naruto had given in and gone along with the plan, albeit begrudgingly. He had preferred to take their time and fight as many genin as they could but he had to make this sacrifice, especially since it was Yugito who had put the motion forward and he wasn't on the best of terms with her.

"Hari?" Yugito called out.

The sensor ninja merely shook his head, indicating there were no nearby enemies.

'What the fuck is this? There were sixty teams that passed yet so far we've hardly seen more than ten of them!'Naruto gritted his teeth with frustration. His body ached for another battle as if going through withdrawal. He had been so excited when they were entered into the Chūnin Exam, having thought it would be a constant stream of nonstop fighting and though it had been, it wasn't like what he had expected. Despite knowing it was crazy, he wanted to be pushed to his very limits and beyond. He had hoped to enter the Chūnin Exam and come out of it stronger.

His musings were cut short by a flowery smell. Naruto decreased his speed and began to run next to Yugito who eyed him with a raised eyebrow. Naruto leaned in closer as they ran (it appeared he was kissing her cheek from Hari's view) and whispered to her. "You're using lilac shampoo, right? That's what I thought," Naruto added when Yugito merely nodded with a very faint blush he hadn't caught. "We're being followed. I can smell potato chips, flowers and some animal, a bear or maybe a deer."

Yugito quirked her nose and nodded, smelling the same odours. Unlike Naruto, she usually had her enhanced senses suppressed simply because it could be a weakness in the heat of battle. "We'll let them follow us for a while."

Naruto shook his head, "I recognize the smell. We're being followed by Shikamaru and his team. It's best we take them out as quick as possible-"

"Guys!" Hari shouted.

Naruto turned over his shoulders, his eyes narrowing as he spotted Hari suspended in motion. "Shit," Naruto launched himself into the air, grabbing Yugito by her wrist as he a five pronged shadow raced at them. Naruto spun Yugito around and released her in the direction of a charging Chōji. Naruto turned just in time to catch a tantō brandished by Ino. Naruto eyed the look of absolute shock in her eyes at the sight of Naruto stopping her blade with his bare hand. "Heya, Ino-chan! So how about that date?" Naruto flipped backwards midair and touched down and went back to back with Yugito.

"Should you really be hitting on our enemies, hentai?" Yugito gripped onto dual kunai and kept her eyes fixated on Chōji.

"Would you let that go?" Naruto said with annoyance. "Besides, you had more than enough retribution!" Naruto turned around and gave Yugito a boost into the air, launching her with his palms and following suit as the shadow raced at them.

"Hari's still caught in their shadow," Yugito pointed out the obvious.

They stuck themselves to separate trees as Shikamaru appeared and held a kunai to his own throat, an action Hari emulated as he was spellbound by the Kagemane. Chōji and Ino stood next to their leader and crossed their arms, satisfied with their successful ambush. Naruto clenched his fists in annoyance. He had hoped to avoid Shikamaru during the exam. The shadow user may appear like an idle weakling but his mind was sharper than any blade and his choice of tactics were more brutal than most shinobi.

"Yo, Naruto!" Shikamaru called out. "It's troublesome but would you mind come over here? We need to talk."

From their position, Shikamaru couldn't actual seem them, although he had probably sensed them out already. Naruto turned to Yugito and made a hand seal. Yugito caught on and created a Kage Bunshin of her own. "Follow my lead," the Naruto clone told Yugito's clone that merely shrugged and approached the shadow user. The originals turned to each other and Naruto began to explain what he knew about Shikamaru's Kagemane jutsu. He had seen Shikamaru show it off once when they were younger.

"You should have told us earlier," Yugito rebuked him, raising her fist to punch him in the head.

Naruto caught her fist much to her surprise with a serious expression. "When we were younger, Shikamaru couldn't really keep it up for very long and he could be overpowered by the chūnin instructors. I doubt he's made any real effort to overpower anyone stronger than a chūnin instructor in the past few years."

"Where are you going with this?" Yugito asked him.

Naruto leaned in closer for the second time in a few minutes and whispered something to Yugito, "Genius, huh?"

"No," Yugito shook her head firmly. "That's too risky. We'll just be swapping prisoners."

"It'll work. Trust me," Naruto smiled at her.

Yugito looked in the eye and nodded with a sigh, "Alright. But if you fail, I will use lethal force."

"Whatever you say."

-ooo-

The Kage Bunshin exploded into mere pillars of clouds before team Asuma. Chōji and Ino gasped in surprise and looked around with confusion.

"Where did he go?" Ino raised her tantō in a defensive stance, her eyes darting left and right.

Chōji looked around in a bewildered manner and turned to his best friend, "Shikamaru what are we going to do?"

"Don't worry. They were just Kage Bunshin," Shikamaru gritted his teeth. He hadn't counted on them knowing such advanced ninjutsu. "They'll come out for real now."

Naruto appeared before them and smiled at Ino, winking at her (she shot him an annoyed look) and turned back to Shikamaru. "Yo, Shika."

"Small talk is too troublesome, Naruto.

Naruto chuckled, "Alright then," he said, "I'll get straight to business. Release Hari or I'll kill Ino-chan."

Ino gasped and turned Shikamaru, then shouted at Naruto, "Take your best shot!" Ino raised her tantō and slid in a counterattacking stance. "Just try it!"

Naruto laughed and turned to the mind bending kunoichi and winked at her. "Sure, have it your way," he said with foxy grin

"Kyah!"

Several hands shot up out of the earth, grabbed onto Ino's ankles and dragged her down instantaneously.

"INO!" Chōji went to dash towards Naruto, expanding his arms to monstrous proportions.

"Chōji!"

Chōji's giant hands stopped a few inches away from Naruto's face. "He took Ino!" Chōji shouted at his best friend. The robust genin shook with rage and returned his arms to their original size and stepped back from Naruto who merely smiled eerily.

"So this is a prisoner exchange?" Shikamaru pressed the kunai closer to his own neck, causing Hari to follow suit.

"No, Ino's definitely dead!" Naruto said cheerily, "Now, you're next."

In a blink of an eye Naruto had shouted, "Kawarimi!" and swapped places with Hari who was instantly pulled through the ground. Shikamaru's grasp faltered briefly but he caught onto Naruto quickly and shouted at Chōji to come closer.

"What now, Naruto? All you did was put yourself in your friend's position," Shikamaru nodded to Chōji who walked over and fed him a chakra replenished. He could only have up to three per day but that was usually more than necessary.

"Haha," the jinchūriki laughed, "You're such an idiot sometimes Shikamaru. Yugito!"

Yugito darted out of a tree, flying past Chōji and dropkicked Naruto in the stomach. Shikamaru's eyes widened considerably as he lurched, gasping for air and spitting blood. In this instant his control over the Kagemane had faltered enough for Naruto to break loose, drop to the floor and kick the back of Shikamaru's legs. Yugito back flipped gracefully and pointed towards Naruto as Chōji went for another swing with his tree-sized arms. Shikamaru had been caught, thrown forward with his hands tied above him by Naruto who sat on his back, lazily holding a kunai to his neck. Hari had also appeared with Ino on her knees before him, pulled up by her ponytail and a ninja-to her neck pressed so hard it drew blood.

"N- No," Chōji reverted his arms with a despondent look on his face.

"Surrender," Yugito commanded him without an ounce of pity. "Do you surrender?"

Chōji looked to Shikamaru who simply nodded. "O- Okay, I surrender," Chōji raised his arms. "I surren- ungh!"

Yugito had speedily dashed towards the robust Akimichi and planted her fist in his gut, having used enough chakra to break through the body armour and make Chōji cough blood as he lurched into unconsciousness. Yugito got up and nodded to Hari, who in return raised his hand and swiftly chopped Ino in the neck, knocking her out.

"That wasn't necessary," Shikamaru gritted through his teeth, a few sweat drops rolled down his temple.

"You don't get to say what is and what isn't necessary," Naruto cuffed him in the back of the head. "You should aim to raise your pain threshold, Shikamaru." Naruto slapped him once more.

"If you're going to kill us, kill us. Don't slap me, it's troublesome," Shikamaru grumbled annoyed as if raising his head took too much effort.

Naruto was not amused. In fact, he was simply pissed off. "You underestimated me, Shikamaru," Naruto said coldly as he smacked him once more. "You thought I was the same moron from back then who couldn't even spell properly." Another slap conveyed his anger. "It's insulting… I know you wouldn't have fallen for such an easy ploy if you took me seriously. Hell, you didn't even take my teammates seriously, did you?" The next slap was rather hard. If he kept this up he could leave a handprint. Maybe even kill a few brain cells, thought it wasn't like Shikamaru couldn't miss a few. "I said I was going to kill Ino," Naruto paused to take in Shikamaru's bulging eyes and then continued, "But for the sake of the friendship we once had as kids... for old time's sake... I'm going to let you three go." Naruto got off the shadow user and reached into the shadow user's pouches. Finding nothing he turned to Yugito who shrugged.

"Don't you touch her!" Shikamaru shouted at them as Yugito approached Ino's unconscious form. It was a humbling enough experience to be completely outsmarted by Naruto (even if it was due to his arrogance) and smacked around by said person however it was a whole other thing to see his childhood friend be strip searched right in front of him.

"Who do you think I am, Shikamaru?" Naruto kicked him in his ribs. "Yugito take her behind those bushes and search for the scroll," Naruto said with a nod. Yugito shifted Ino's weight under her arm carrier her to the bushes, leaving Naruto and Hari with their captives. "So, you really must have been desperate for a scroll to go after us, Shikamaru."

"Not so much as desperate as foolish," Shikamaru growled out, knowing he had been stupid and impulsive. He should have known better and he made a point of reminding himself continuously.

"Yeah, that was stupid!" Naruto reared back his arm and punched him clean in the chin, knocking him out. Turning to Hari he nodded, "Look after these two. I'm going to see what Yugito's up to." Hari couldn't be trusted with this, Naruto figured. Out of the two of them, he was the lesser pervert (although not by much) and so he strolled over to where Yugito had been strip searching Ino.

…

"What are you doing?" Yugito shot him a dark look, turning in her crouch and spreading her arm to block his view of the half naked Ino laid out on the grass behind her. "Get out of here."

"Oh, look what we've got here." Naruto had no problem looking over her shoulder to see Ino had been stripped down to her bra and panties with her arms and legs spread. Naruto noted she had a _very_ attractive body with her long, silky legs, lusciously curved hips and abs that were laid bare, her bandages lying beside her. Most notably were her rather well endowed breasts that seemed so soft and perky under the remaining garment that covered her. A light bulb went off in his mind and a lecherous grin etched on Naruto's face as he walked over to Ino, despite Yugito's protest.

"W- What are you doing?" Yugito said with utter disbelief and a faint flush gracing her cheeks. 'What is he doing?'

"I know where the scroll is," Naruto said with confidence as he kneeled behind Yugito. "You know the Darkness scroll I got us the other day?" Naruto ran his hands over Ino's smooth skin, trailing upwards to her breasts, "I took it off a Kiri team, they weren't too strong but they were pretty smart. The one who took it off was the kunoichi of their team. Thing is, I hard time finding it," at this point Naruto had slipped his hands under Ino's bra and cupped her breast.

Yugito blushed furiously, feeling both the urge to beat the living hell out of Naruto but at the same time entranced by how swiftly he move over her breast. Not even when he gave them a subtle squeeze did she stop him despite herself. 'Did Emiko teach him to do that?'

"The reason why I had such a hard time was because she hid it in a place nobody would think to look," Naruto's hands brushed over Ino's nipples, causing her to shudder in unconsciousness, "It's right… here!" Naruto felt had found the hidden compartment in the bra and swiftly unclasped the garment and held it up. "I had to uh, feel around to confirm there was a hidden compartment," Naruto explained turning the lingerie piece to Yugito and taking out a seal tag similar to his privacy tags in size but used for discrete storage.

'Of course you did, you perverted bastard. What else did you do to that kunoichi from Kiri?'Yugito thought sourly. She couldn't call him out on his perversion now as that would just make her look bad for not stopping him in the first place which could lead to further accusations. "I see, so that's a sealing tag."

"Yeah they are, um... they're um," Naruto had painfully noticed Ino's nipples had gone erect under the cold winds but shook his head turning to Yugito. "They're pretty useful. No wonder they've gotten so popular, especially during an exam like this."

"Ahuh," Yugito raised an eyebrow as Naruto's eyes wandered from Ino back to her. "I think I should check for such tags next time, Naruto."

"Yeah, sure," Naruto said quickly, counting himself lucky Yugito hadn't beaten him to a bloody pulp. It came as a huge surprise she hadn't done anything towards him yet. "If you want I could make you one of these," he said, holding up the sealing tag and unsealed the Heaven scroll from it. "I mean if you want one."

"No thanks," Yugito grabbed the garment piece off Naruto and walked over to Ino's unconscious form, propping her up and putting the bra on her. In a brief moment of thought Yugito nearly dropped the piece, causing her to squeeze them onto Ino's breasts. 'No! I'm just like him now!' A voice in the back of her head screamed. Yugito shook her head and quickly strapping on the bra with its clasp, briefly noting Ino had quite a generous bust judging from the labeled tag.

"Okay, I need to go!" Naruto said hurriedly with a trickle of blood trickling down his nose and quickly left. That was simply one of the most erotic situations – actually, _the most _erotic situation he had been in. It wouldn't bode well for him to stay there much longer judging from Yugito's embarrassed blush. From past experiences he knew she was prone to lashing out violently when she was embarrassed this much.

-ooo-

(A Few Hours Later)

"You think they'll be okay?" Hari mused out loud.

"What do you care?" Naruto asked him.

Yugito raised an eyebrow but made no comment and eyed Hari's response.

"I thought you were friends."

"We were. I don't know them now and I can't say I really care for them. Especially if they've tried to attack us."

"But-"

"He's right Hari," Yugito interrupted cut him off. "Whatever bonds they had and whatever experiences they had shared as children are irrelevant now. You shouldn't be so compassionate either considering you had a knife to your throat."

Hari sighed, knowing when he had not argument and focused on his sensory skills with a mere nod and an, "Alright."

Naruto decidedly focused on the tree branches in front of him. They had decided to take to the trees at this point, in good spirits now that they were but one scroll away from passing the second part of the Chūnin Exam. What would happen next was up unknown to them but they had quickly grown tired of the _Shi no Mori_ _(Forest of Death) _and the dangers it houses such as the poisonous vegetations, monstrous animals and overall haunting feel to it. It was grim thought to ponder how many lives had been lost in this forest. How much blood had been spilled for the bump to chūnin and additional prestige for your village? Was it all worth it? He couldn't help but wonder.

Naruto shook his head to clear his mind from the dark thoughts and increased his pacing to keep himself busy. 'Keep eyes open, perk up your ears and pay attention to your nose.' Naruto would have loved to take out his book on seals right now and just read. He had nearly finished this volume before the exam and had finished reading during the few hours he had on guard, yet continued to make notes in the books as he had done with the previous volumes to remind himself of possibilities. It was quite meticulous but he enjoyed the peace and tranquility it gave him.

He was deep in thought when he heard a scream, a feminine scream.

Naruto stuck himself to a tree and looked over his shoulder at the sensory type ninja who met him with a nod and indicated to his left with one hand, then held up four fingers to indicate there were four chakra signatures. Naruto turned to Yugito who merely nodded to him.

The Kyūbi's jailer disappeared with a rustle of leaves and rushed over towards the source of the sound where he found a team of Shimogakure (Hidden Frost) rounding on a kunoichi who held her head as they stomped on her. On closer inspection Naruto recognized the three genin from Shimon; if he remembered correctly the kunoichi was called Tsukuyo.

"Heya!" Naruto shot a barrage of shuriken with his Yadama Fūin tattoo, chasing of the Shimogakure genin who turned and threw a hail of projectiles of their own. Naruto leaned backwards, appearing fall of the branch but actually was sliding down with chakra and turned upside down to face them. "Tsukuyo-_chaaan,_ what about that date?"

"It's him!" The kunoichi known as Tsukuyo shouted to her teammates. The Shimogakure genin swallowed thickly and distanced themselves.

"R- run for it!" One of them shouted and turned to abandon his friends who called out to him to stop to no avail.

He didn't get very far. In a blink of an eye Naruto appeared before him and grabbed onto his forehead and lifted him up like a sack of potatoes. "Now then," Naruto threw the genin at his male teammate with enough force he sent both of them flying to the ground in a sprawled mess.

"W- Wait!" Tsukuyo held up her hand in a defensive manner. Her eyes darted to the pathways on her left and right but cursed under her breath as Yugito and Hari stood before each pathway with their arms crossed.

"I'm not good with rejection, Tsukuyo-chan."

Tsukuyo looked at Naruto and began to laugh nervously. "Who's rejecting you? I'm not re- rejecting you! In fact I'll gladly go out with you."

Naruto's expression lit up and he beamed happily. "Really? Great, I know this amazing ramen bar- oh right! Kill the enemy, don't diddle 'em. Got it!" Naruto nodded to Hari and Yugito who stared at him with deadpanned expressions. "Sorry, no can do. I bat for the other team."

"Y- You're gay?"

"Wait, what? N- No!" Naruto turned to the genin around him. "Is that what that means? Cause I'm definitely– DEFINITELY not gay! Ask her!" Naruto pointed at Yugito.

The Nibi jinchūriki was twirling a kunai in her and instantly gripped onto it tightly enough to _bend the metal_ when she heard the comment, a series of thick veins appearing on her temple. "WHAT?"

"Okay, what I meant with that is that I'm a hundred percent straight!" Naruto turned to Yugito already begging for his life, "You know what I meant with that, right? Ri- right, Yugito-san? Yugito-senpai? Yugito-sama? Yug-"

"GET ON WITH IT!" Hari picked up a rock and flung it Naruto, landing a hit in his face.

Naruto rolled over the ground in pain, holding his face and swearing like a sailor. Hari stepped over his grounded form and went to the kunoichi they had been beating on. "Heya. I apologize for my teammate's ridiculous behav-"

"What are you doing?" Karin shouted Hari, darting past him and cradling Naruto despite her own injuries. "Are you okay, Dokuo-sama?"

A trickle of sweat dropped down Tsukuyo's temple. "Did I just- is this really happening?" Yugito and Hari looked at each other and sighed exasperatedly.

"He- here, Dokuo-sama," Karin pulled down her zip-up flak jacket and brought Naruto closer to her chest. "Please just ta- take a bite."

"Okay, what the fuck is happening here?" Hari demanded stepping forward between Naruto and Karin, gripping onto the blonde by the collar and holding him up for examination as if he was a strange creature for exhibit

"What _is_ going on?" Yugito rested her hand on the hilt of her wakizashi that rest on the small of her back. Something was very strange to say the least.

Naruto regained his senses and explained what was going on… vaguely. "And this heartbreaker here started beating on this chick. I was going to steal their scrolls."

"Heartbreaker? I don't even know you!" Tsukuyo shouted at him from the three she and her teammates had been tied to a few minutes before. "You didn't even confess properly- wait, what am I saying? Just shut up!" Tsukuyo ended her rant with an embarrassed flush.

"Aha! You just lied through your teeth, just now," Naruto pointed at her accusingly. "You just said you'd go out with me after I confessed my love for you- ack!" Naruto held his head as Yugito withdrew his fist and Hari kicked him unnecessarily in the side for 'good measurement'. "Oh lawd- ARGH HARI!" Naruto held his side in intensified due to another kick in the ribs.

"Who is this person?" Yugito motioned to Karin who was tied to another tree next to the Shimogakure genin. "Where do you know her from?"

"Good question," Naruto nodded sagely, crossing his arms and appearing to know all the answers. "She's..." Naruto paused theatrically.

When nearly a minute passed by Yugito coughed. "Well, who is she?"

"I've got no idea who she is. I've never met her before," Naruto deadpanned, causing Hari to fall forward, still nodding sagely with his arms crossed as though he had solved a great mystery. "Achii! Stop hitting me, Hari, I'll fucking kill you!"

Hari shook his head. 'Yugito was right, his head really is that hard. It'll end up being a punishment for me if I keep hitting him...'

"You haven't, but I've met you before, Dokuo-sama!" Karin said excitedly with a blush gracing her futures. Combined with her odd hairstyle and glasses, it gave of a rather cute effect. "I was watching you from afar when you were fighting these cowards," Karin pulled a sour face at Tsukuyo, "You were like one magnificent, elegant being. Like a dragon! Your chakra shook me deep to my core!"

"Can I kill this one?" Naruto pulled a sour expression, sat in crouch before Karin to imitate a clichéd yakuza member he saw on TV. Naruto picked his nose as he looked at her through squinted eyes. "She insists on calling me 'Dokuo-sama'. It's rude."

"Do- Dokua-sama don't kill me! I can be of use," Karin dramatically tilted her head to show off her neck where bite marks ran down to her chest. "I am deeply in love with your chakra a- and y- you! Please, whenever you see fit, make us of my body. Just... be gentle?"

"W- WHAT?" Yugito and Tsukuyo shouted with matching blushes and in complete synchronization. Hari simply leant against a tree in a depressed manner, mumbling incoherently to himself whilst Tsukuyo's teammates were sporting shocked expressions at the thought of what Karin had implied.

"No thanks," Naruto flicked his nose-pickings at Karin's forehead. "You're cute but too crazy for my taste. Besides, no ordinary woman could satisfy the great Dokuo-sama of Kumogakure."

"He just called himself a 'dokuo', didn't he?" One of the Shimogakure genin asked the other who simply nodded.

"Yes, I think he did. It's kinda embarrassing to watch…"

Hearing them, an irate Yugito turned Naruto with a twitching eye. "Don't include Kumo in such perverted sentences," Yugito chided him. "It's an embarrassment to all of us."

"_This_ guy beat us singlehandedly?" Tsukuyo sported comical tears. "It's embarrassing for a human being."

"M..he.. nrgh," Hari mumbled to himself, rocking in the fetal position. The world couldn't possibly be this crazy.

"I like the shapely girls with boom-buh!" Naruto air-groped himself and did a ridiculous little dance with his hip to indicate a woman with curvy hips and large breasts. "The day you grow D's come and find me. I'll even allow you rid me of my dokuo curse- kragh!"

_CRACK!_

A split second later and Naruto found himself into a tree trunk courtesy to a flying kick by Yugito. The cat kunoichi touched down on her feet and dusted of her hands as if she was cleansing herself. "What is your name?" Yugito rounded on Karin. Her patience had been worn very thin, evident in her hostile tone, and she wanted some answers. "Speak."

"K- Karin!"

"Do you have a last name, Karin?" Yugito prodded Hari to get him up with her foot. The medic ninja complied and stood beside her, matching her serious expression.

"Uzumaki!" Karin said happily. Then realizing her error, she blushed and quickly amended. "Well, I mean… no, I'm an orphan so I have no last name but hopefully one day it'll be Uzuma-"

"Okay, so you CLEARLY know my name isn't Dokuo yet you- what do you mean 'one day soon'? Oi!" Naruto's voice echoed through the hollow inside of the tree as he tried to pull himself out.

"You weren't there when we got attacked, yet you say you saw Naruto from afar. Explain," Yugito commanded her; crossed her arms and waited expectantly.

"Well, it's quite simple. Kusa, Getsura, Shimo and Jōki made an alliance before the exam started to stick together so we split into two teams. We ambushed you when you were fighting those Iwa ninja and split up to catch both of you. I was supposed to be with the team after the Iwa genin but-"

"She left her teammates because she felt that asshole over there spike his chakra to impossible levels- how did you even do that? There's no way any genin could- forget it... This bitch betrayed us and now a team of our village is dead. We were in the middle of giving her what she had coming but then that bozo over there got involved!" Tsukuyo finished angrily.

"ARRGH!" Naruto pulled his head out of the tree, effectively snapping it in half and was busy picking out the splinters when he answered. "You know, you're cute but you're just as crazy as this one," Naruto flicked Karin's head as he spoke to Tsukuyo.

The Kusa kunoichi made a point out of it to coo erotically in inexplicable pleasure much to everyone's chagrin.

"See what I mean?" Naruto unsealed a kunai in his hand crouched before Karin. "Listen up. I don't really care for your petty problems. We just want your scrolls so we can get to steppin', understood?" Naruto pressed the kunai to Karin's neck with a dead serious expression to illustrate the sincerity of his threat. "Hand them over."

"I- I don't have any scrolls. My team leader had it when we split up but they're dead."

"How do you know?" Hari questioned.

"I'm a sensory type kunoichi!" Karin blushed proudly. "I can sense people from over a five mile radius with my jutsu that allows me both discern between human and non humans as well as see the colour of chakra. Yours is very beautiful," Karin trailed off with a blush directed towards Naruto. "It's blue but the not the regular blue most people have. It's a whole different shade with gold… it's beautiful."

'Five miles? That's unbelievable. I can't sense further than two!' Hari clenched his fist taking in the information and then said to Naruto, "I believe her. By now the Iwa team that wiped them out must have gotten their scrolls."

"What about you, Aisai?" Naruto cupped Tsukuyo's chin and smiled kindly.

"Your 'beloved wife'? I agreed to a date, not to marry you. What are you even talking about? You intimidated me into accepting a date, that doesn't count!"

Naruto pulled a sour face. "Akusai."

"What? I'm evil now? That's just unfair," Tsukuyo argued heatedly. Stupid it may have been but there was a point she had to prove and she did not take kindly to be called an 'evil wife' for no damn reason. There was a principle involved.

"Mhm," Naruto grumbled with a serious expression and then nodded. "It's decided, you're definitely a Gosai."

"That doesn't make sense. How can I be your second wife if you married me first? He- hey! You're ranking me, aren't you? You're definitely ranking me!"

"You ask too many questions." Naruto sighed dramatically. "I feel like you're trying to change who I am and I'm sorry but I can't take it anymore, my love. I am who I am and that cannot be helped. I guess we should call it off here," Naruto told her, upholding his theatrics as he cupped her chin gently and leaning in for a kiss. "I will always love you, my Kyūsai."

_CRUNCH!_

"Ack!" Naruto fell to his back holding his face for the second time in the span of ten minutes, rolling around in absolutely agony from the head butt.

Tsukuyo's forehead had a reddish tinge that most likely going to turn into a bruise. "Kyūsai? You're divorcing me now? And what kind of a man would kiss his ex wife, huh? That's the kinda crap you see in the movies, not in real life!"

Yugito sighed, 'He's incorrigible. 'She then rounded on Tsukuyo. If Naruto wanted to fool around, she would do the dirty work. "Where's your scroll? Hand it over and you walk away with your life."

"Fine," Tsukuyo growled. "It's in my-"

"Bra?" Naruto interrupted hopefully. Yugito swiftly silenced him with a glare than promised nothing but pain and suffering if he so much uttered another word and so he quickly amended himself. "I mean, where is your scroll?"

"It's in my pouch in a hidden compartment."

Naruto leaned in begrudgingly and took the pouch of Tsukuyo's belt and opened it. The pouch was filled with compartments holding additional kunai, shuriken, a canteen, exploding tags and additional items. Naruto ignored her indignant shout as he turned over the pouch and emptied its contents. A few seconds later he reaches into the hidden compartment and fished out the scroll. "Got it," Naruto slid the Heaven scroll back into his pouch stood up and took a few steps back.

"We're leaving," Yugito announced with a nod to Hari. "Untie them."

Hari swiftly cut the ropes and slid his ninja-to its scabbard, distancing himself from the Shimogakure genin and Karin. Naruto nodded to them and was about to follow his teammates who took to the trees when Karin called out to him.

"W- wait, Naruto-sama!" Karin called to him desperately.

Naruto turned to her with an annoyed expression. "What is it, Karin?"

'He said my name!' Karin blushed but shook her head to stay objective. "Please, take me with you! I can be of use to you!"

"Eh?" Naruto deadpanned. He scratched his cheek with an uneasy feeling. "Look, Karin, I'm sure you're pretty self-dependent, right? Why would you even want to come with us? I was responsible for your leader's death. Heck, I pretty much made him kill himself."

"I don't care! They didn't think of me as anything but a tool anyway." Karin took a step forward and shook her head with conviction in her decision, clearly intending to tag along with them. "Please," she said pleadingly, "Take me with you. I can be of use!"

"We already have a sensory ninja," Naruto told her with an easy feeling in the pit of her stomach. Karin seemed rather hurt by that but she quickly pressed on, not giving up on convincing them.

"I can cook!"

"So can we." Naruto's eye twitched with annoyance. 'How desperate is this chick?' They were from different villages, how in the hell was she going to try and come along with them? It didn't make sense.

"I- I got another special ability! If you bite me in my neck or chest, you can suck healing chakra!" Karin pulled down her shirt slightly to show several bit marks. It was a gruesome sight she would never show anyone outside of her team if she could help it but she was desperate to stick close to him.

"YES!" Naruto pumped his fist enthusiastically, nostrils flaring and a lecherous smile gracing his expression along with a light flush. "DEFINITELY!" Unfortunately he was quickly forced to retract that statement as he was met with a dangerous glint in Yugito's eye. "Uh, sorry. We've already got it covered," Naruto mumbled begrudgingly.

"PLEASE! Just take me with you!" Karin got on her knees bowed her head. Tears streamed down her face in desperation.

"Stop being so damn desperate, Karin!" Tsukuyo shouted at her. Her teammates stopped in their tracks, waiting for her to come with them. "You don't even know him."

"Shut up!" Karin shouted at her. "I'll devote myself to you, Uzumaki Naruto. Please, just take me with you. Let me see your chakra erupt when you fight! Let me be there when you crush your enemies… please… I'll do anything."

"My chakra isn't anything special," Naruto tried uneasily. That wasn't true, considering he his chakra was slowly mixing with that of the Kyūbi and if that wasn't special nothing was but that wasn't the issue here. "What's so special about it anyway? It's just chakra."

"It's far more than that!" Karin looked up with puffy eyes. "Your chakra is _strong_ and _profound… _It feels like I'm truly alive when you unleash it. My sensory abilities go completely off the charts! It's the most beautiful– ungh!" Karin slumped to the ground as a result of a chop to the neck by Yugito.

"Is she going to be alright here on her own?" Hari hung upside down from the tree with a quizzical expression. "She's crazy but that doesn't mean we should leave her out here on own. Especially since her own allies want to kill her."

"It's not our problem," Yugito decided and turned to leave when Naruto stayed looming over Karin.

Naruto spoke to Tsukuyo and glared at her with such intensity his blue eyes formed into slits, a trick he picked up during his jinchūriki training. "I suggest you three to get the hell out of here and stay away from this lunatic. If you don't, I'll finish what I started the other day." Naruto could be _very_ intimidating if he wanted to. Evident in the shocked and fearful expressions the Shimo genin pulled, stepping back although Tsukuyo sported an unexpected blush as if his passionate way of speaking struck a chord. Naruto didn't notice.

"You're too compassionate," Yugito chided with a sigh. "I suppose it cannot be helped. Let's go."

_(TL: Aisai translates to 'beloved wife'. Naruto first decided Tsukuyo will be his wife. When he calls her Akusai Naruto's claiming Tsukuyo being a 'bad wife' in this instance. Naruto's using Gosai incorrectly to rank Tsukuyo as a 'second best' wife when it means 'second wife'. Eventually Naruto calls her, Kyūsai, which means 'ex-wife'. Naruto has decided to end his 'marriage' to Tsukuyo.)_

-ooo-

(With Team Manako)

Kenji panted tiredly as his opponent fell before him to the ground with a deep gash in his neck. Kenji dropped to a knee, holding onto his sword's hilt and allowing himself a breather, knowing Yorama Jin was dead. It was unfortunate such talent had been wasted at such an early stage however it was the Taki genin's decision to challenge him. And the challenge had proved to be too big for him and resulted in his death. Yet at the same time the Saito had paid a high price of his own.

"AH!" Kenji's hand held on to his left eye. It was bleeding profusely from a long gash from his eyes drown to his cheek.

_BOOM!_

Kenji looked to his right to see a huge dust cloud. He could feel Kenichi's chakra, noting it was still very strong. The Saito sighed in relief and got to his feet and made his way to where Taiko had ran off to with her own opponent. Kenji sheathed his blade and covered the gash across his eye inflicted by his late adversary. 'That was intense,' he thought as he heard another familiar shout. Taiko had just defeated her opponent.

"Kenji!" Kenchi ran towards him and caught Kenji in his stagger. Kenichi inspected his wounds briefly, frowning at the sight of the deep gashes in his cheek, his left eye and right forearm. "Kenji, you- you're eye!"

"Hehehe… that sucks." Kenji promptly slipped into unconsciousness.

"KENJI!" Kenichi shouted as he shook his best friend. "KENJI!" It was to no avail. In a state of panic Kenichi shouted, "TAIKO! COME HERE! KENJI'S DOWN!"

-ooo-

(In Another Part of the Forest of Death)

The sun had set and stars had begun to adorn the skies that held a beautiful hue mixture of blue and orange.

Team Kakashi were in a sheltered part of the forest and had set up camp. Sasuke and Sai sat silently on a fallen tree Sasuke had carelessly cut down for a makeshift bench. As they sat in silence, Sakura was preparing them food: steamed rice with fish. It was rather unusual to cook out in the woods with animals the size of houses but they were safe. The Sharingan instilled fear into even the fiercest of predators and Sakura's genjutsu was rather useful to make humans believe the campsite was invisible to all five senses.

"Sasuke-kun, we've got three scrolls now. We just need an Earth scroll now," Sakura said excitedly. She turned to him with a bowl of rice and a roasted fish on a leaf. "Are we going straight to the _Shi no Tou_ or do you want to stay here and fight some more?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. He hadn't expected she would know what his intentions were. "We'll stay here till the ninth day. Then we will move to the tower and rest," Sasuke told her, taking his food and placing the strip of fish beside him.

"Oh, okay," Sakura nodded with a smile. Truth be told she was absolutely sick of the forest but if Sasuke wanted to stay a little longer, that's what she would do. 'It's a test of love!'Sakura told herself, passing a significantly less attractive looked bowl of rice and fish to Sai.

"Thank you," Sai said nonetheless. The ink user placed his scroll and brush beside him and accepted the food she offered him.

They ate in silence for the duration of their meal, listening to the crisping noise from the fire and observed the critters that approached them. One particular squirrel gave Sasuke the 'evil eye', eyeing his food hungrily. Sasuke sighed and broke off a piece of his fish and flicked it into the woods. The rodents followed suit and disappeared. Naturally Sakura saw this as an act of compassion and swooned, thinking there was still kindness in her 'prince'.

"Maybe we can get there early, get rested and come back here?" Sakura offered the compromise desperately with an uneasy smile. She loved Sasuke but she really could not stand the _Forest of Death._ It was simply too uncomfortable, damp and eerie. Some of wildlife, particularly the bears, were incredibly huge and aggressive.

-ooo-

(Nearby Team Kakashi)

A sinister figure stood a top of a tree; the newcomer's silhouette under the rays of the full moon shifted. The figure seemed to contort and change into another form. "Uchiha Sasuke… your body will be mine." In swift movements the figure disappeared with a rustle of leaves.

…

"Maybe we can get there early, get rested and come back here?" Sakura offered the compromise desperately with an uneasy smile. She loved Sasuke but she _really _could not stand this place. Only the insane or the extremely dedicated would willingly stay here. "Ri- right, Sasuke?"

Sasuke glared in her direction menacingly and reached for his katana. Even Sai seemed taken off guard and moved involuntary in case he had to keep the Uchiha from murdering their teammates. Sakura quickly yelped and crawled back.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke!"

"Shut up!" Sasuke go up and unsheathed his blade with one hand and his kusarigama with another. His Sharingan flared to live, spinning wildly and fiercely. "We're being watched!" Sasuke threw his kusarigama past Sakura head, narrowly missing her and cutting of a few strands of hair.

_CLANG!_

A new figure had appeared and blocked the kusarigama with a kunai. Sasuke's eyes flared at the sight of the newcomer. The new figure was a pale skinned Kusagakure kunoichi dressed in green garbs with military-esque print and her hair pulled up in a ponytail with an traditional exorcism tag the kanji for 'evil' attached to her straw hat. "Hello there Sasuke-kun."

'A Kusagakure shinobi?' Sasuke dashed forward, his Sharingan telling him what was about to happen, and grabbed Sakura by the collar and threw her behind him. Sai caught the kunoichi and forced her behind him while Sasuke took the punch in the gut that sent him flying wide-eyed through _multiple_ trees. Skidding painfully across the earth and covering roughly forty feet in total, Sasuke could hear his teammate scream.

"SASUKE!"

"Chōjū Giga!"

-ooo-

"Looks like we're done here," Naruto juggled the four scrolls in their possession. The four scrolls with kanji for 'Earth', 'Heaven', 'Light' and 'Darkness' revolved in a cycle. It was almost symbolic Naruto mused.

"We'll break for camp now. Tomorrow we'll go to the tower," Yugito eyed her teammates for opposition and found none. "Good, now that we've established that-" Yugito cut herself off, her eyes narrowed on her right. 'Hari you fool, you failed to stay vigilant at all times.'

Naruto seemingly caught on too and slid the scrolls into his pouch. Hari stepped away from the tree he was leaning against and joined his team in their defensive three-pronged shield formation. They were being watched and whoever was watching them was likely about to attack.

"Come on out or I'm coming in swinging!" Naruto shouted to the tree tops that surrounded their canopy. "Believe me when I say you don't want me to come in swinging!" Yugito nudged his elbow to indicate him to keep going while Hari subtly made a hand seal. "Alrighty. You just pissed of the great Dokuo- ngh!" Naruto quickly amended himself, "The great Ichibiri of Kumo- ngh!" Naruto growled. 'I can even be the Prankster of Kumo? Jeez!'Naruto coughed and tried once more, "Fine, you're about to piss of Uzumaki Naruto of Kumogakure. Stop now or I'll get angry you know." It totally lacked any of his usual bravado but Yugito was being too much of a pain to deal with.

"Just to your left Yugito," Hari said so softly it was almost inaudible. Yet there lay the advantage of having teammates with near supersonic hearing. Naruto nudged his teammates and instantly turned around as Hari and Yugito darted out his way.

Naruto slid into a stance he was very familiar with. In a split second he held out his palm to aim for the tree tops and followed up with another palm strike. "Akkai Genshuku!" The Crushing Gravity palm strike was laced with so much excessive chakra it had chakra streaking behind it.

_BOOM!_

Team Kirabi split up and each speedily jumped for their own silhouetted target. Naruto quickly found himself engaged in a vicious taijutsu battle with none other than Hyūga Neji. Naruto ducked and leaned backwards and strange angles to avoid palm strikes. Even he wasn't foolish enough to challenge the Hyūga Jūken. "What do we have here? Did I hurt your feelings?" Naruto back flipped with ease silently thanking Kirabi for training him so extensively. He was more agile than most genin – most shinobi in general. Years of practically nonstop taijutsu training against Kirabi and Yugito did that for you. Yugito was a little agiler than him, yet both she and Kirabi had a hard time facing him in their spars. Hell, he beat Yugito most of the time. Not that he had spared with her lately, but it still counted for something.

"Hand over your scrolls and your comrades may very well live for another day," Hyūga Neji slid into another offensive stance. "Your fate however has already been decided," Neji announced fatalistically. "You had already signed your death warranty the moment you challenged the Hyūga!"

"We'll see about that!" Naruto speedily ran at him and went in for a butterfly kick, flying through the air in a whirlpool of legs cutting towards Neji's torso, neck and facial regions. The Hyūga leaned back, whirling his arms and pushed aside the flurry of kicks and even parried them with his palms at rapid speed. Naruto's metal shin guard on his right foot actually cracked, alerting him of his corroding defenses and prompted him to turn midair and go for a heel drop Neji blocked with his forearm. Eyeing the incoming counterattack, Naruto launched himself backwards in a flip and held up his right shin to intercept the Jūken jab.

Naruto slid back across the earth with a glare as his shin guard fell apart. Those had been a gift from Kirabi and here Neji was destroying them with ease. "That Jūken sure is something," Naruto commented. buying himself some time to nurse his somewhat injured shin as Neji dropped his stance and smirked triumphantly as if the battle had already been decided.

"Of course. It is invincible," Neji announced arrogantly. "First I will incapacitate you to make you bow down to the power of the Hyūga. Then I will gracefully allow you to beg for your life and forgiveness." Hyūga Neji slid back into another stance. "Enough procrastinating. You will meet your fate tonight!"

"Fatalist asshole," Naruto snapped sliding in a stance of his own. "Let's see if the Jūken lives up to my own style!" Naruto _technically_ didn't have a taijutsu style. In fact, he usually just went along with what he thought was good at the moment and made frequent usage of physically challenging attacks such as handstand attacks and randomly placed punches. Yet, it was effective enough to beat most of his opponents aside from Kirabi who simply had a too high pain threshold to be affected strongly enough.

"Give in to your fate!" Neji sped towards Naruto and went for a palm strike, "Hakke Kūshō!" The palm strike stopped nearly a feet away from Naruto catching him by surprise a sudden high pressured burst of wind collided in his chest and sent him flying and lodging into a tree a second later.

_(Jutsu: Hakke Kūshō – Eight Trigrams Empty Palm!)_

Naruto groaned but quickly regained his bearings launched himself out of three tree and front flipped towards Neji to land a crushing heel drop on his shoulder. The Hyūga held up his left forearm, pushing down Naruto and went for another palm strike which Naruto avoiding by pushing down his wrists. The two initiate a high speed taijutsu battle exchanging blows at incredible speeds. Naruto had figured out if he was fast enough he could avoid most of the palm strikes by merely pushing Neji's wrists aside or downwards. However it was incredibly dangerous especially when the Hyūga you were facing wasn't out to immobilize you anymore but was out to cause as much internal damage through brutal palm thrusts and finger strikes.

"What's your deal with fate anyway?" Naruto demanded back flipping on his hands and lowering his legs to avoid another Hakke Kūshō. Naruto launched himself as if a torpedo at the Hyūga who sidestepped and chopped downwards. Naruto held his arms in cross and pressed on the attack by rolling to the side and begin his spinning kicks as he supported himself on his hands. Neji gritted his teeth and jumped backwards and shouted, "Kaiten!" Naruto's Akkai Genshuku bounded of the Heavenly Spin harmlessly with a loud bang.

"There is no purpose in attempting to explain a matter such as this to an inferior life form such as yourself," Neji touched down gracefully and slide into another stance. "You could never understand the ultimate power of fate!"

Naruto's eyes narrowed, instinctively preparing himself for impact in the split second Neji's palm thrust forward. It almost appeared to be in slow motion.

"Hakke Hasageki!"

A sudden explosion followed.

_(Jutsu: Hakke Hasangeki – Eight Trigrams Mountain Crusher!)_

-ooo-

_Cling! Cling! Cling!_

Hari stood back to back with Yugito as they simultaneously deflected the incoming hail of shuriken and kunai. Naruto had been isolated from them and was now facing another one of them. That explosion did not sound good at all.

"Yugito!"

Yugito nodded to him as they split up and jumped apart and targeted their two attackers; a skinny teenager with a bowl-haircut clad in a green spandex and a kunoichi in red and white Chinese styled apparel. Yugito launched towards Lee and attempted to punch him in the face but was in for a surprise when he deftly caught her fist and threw her aside with such strength the slid across the earth for a good moment or two.

'This guy is strong!' Yugito withdrew her wakizashi and rushed towards the genin who took the time to introduce himself as Rock Lee. Yugito lunged at him, however he sidestepped the blade and attempted elbow Yugito in the back of her head but she reacted quickly and took a page out of Naruto's book and performed a handstand and heeled him in the face. The genin stumbled back pinching the bridge of his nose yet smiled to Yugito's great dismay and confusion.

"Yosh, you are a powerful one!" Rock Lee announced with a respectful bow. "May I have your name, my youthful adversary?" The Azure Beast slid into a peculiar stance, straightening his back and raising his right arm in front of him, his left behind his back.

"Nii Yugito," Yugito answered him. Unlike the others they had faced, Rock Lee seemed to be a genuinely nice person. It was hard to think of him as a bloodthirsty enemy with his cheerful fist pumps and dragged out speeches about the Power of Youth. "Rock Lee, I suggest you take your partners and leave before I have to get serious."

To her right Hari was dominating Tenten in a fierce kenjutsu exchange. The weapon mistress had clearly met her match _and then some_ considering she was gritting her teeth and sporting several cuts and scratches while Hari was using Naruto's ninja-to to systematically pick her defenses apart with little difficulty. It was clear out of the two he was, by far, the superior swordsman.

Yugito smiled with a sense of pride in her teammate, momentarily forgetting her worry for Naruto whom she had neither seen nor heard from after the explosion. "Please move aside," Yugito steadied her wakizashi.

"I cannot!" Lee promptly charged at her and went propelled himself across the grass speedily, twisting his hip for a crushing kick. "Konoha Gōriki Senpū!" Lee performed a spinning kick with suck speed Yugito hardly could blink before she register the top of her wakizashi had been literally kicked off and reduced to shards. She quickly ducked under another kick and back flipped instantaneously. This guy was something else! Yugito charged her Raikō Jōshō to keep up and charged Lee to exchange multiple blows.

_(Jutsu: Konoha Gōriki Senpū – Leaf Strong Whirlwind!)_

-ooo-

Perched on a tree branch Naruto breathed heavily as he leant against the tree with one hand. Neji's sudden Hakke Hasangeki had blown him away with such force he was profusely bleeding and his shirt and flak jacket had been reduced to mere rags. Even his precious sealing hand book had been ripped apart in the explosion by Hyūga Neji's attack. Naruto gritted his teeth and darted aside to dodge another Hakke Kūshō from behind. Quickly spinning on his heels he threw a kunai directed towards Neji's face. The smirking Hyūga caught the projectile between two fingers, threw it upwards and deftly caught it before throwing it back.

_Cling!_

Naruto kicked the projectile aside and followed up with his signature move. "Akkai Genshuku!" The blast was met head on by a Jūken palm strike. Like Sasuke had done, Neji's chakra enhanced palm had cut through the blast easily. 'Great like I need that bastard on my mind now!' Naruto grabbed the remains of his jacket and cast it aside. He would have to retrieve the scrolls later. "Have it your way, Neji."

"How dare you call me by name?" Neji screamed at him pushing another palm strike shouting. "Hakke Hasangeki!"

The powerful blast shot towards Naruto. In anticipation, Naruto slid his legs into a broad stance and held out his arms to meet the blast head on. Neji shouted, "Impossible!" Naruto had made up his mind and braced himself with conviction as the humming ball force of chakra connected.

_ZHHM!_

The energy wave hummed as it crashed into Naruto who gritted teeth, refusing to scream. Veins began to pop up by his temple and arms as he began to bush it back with a might roar. "UUOAAH!" Naruto roared as he lower his arms and pumped so much chakra in his arms he felt his limbs were about to explode. "AAARGH!" Naruto flipped his arms upwards as if grasping at the moon and _deflected_ the energy wave. His arms hung twitchingly to his side as he staggered.

"Im- Impossible!" Neji screamed in absolute disbelief. "IMPOSSIBLE!"

Naruto shot forward in a blink of an eye rearing back his arm. "FATE DOESN'T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH, TEME!" With that, Naruto deliver powerful punch to Neji's face sending him crashing into the ground and skidding painfully across it before come to a painful stop.

Naruto breathed heavily as he approached Neji. The Hyūga stirred briefly but moved no further. "Ungh!" Naruto's body felt on fire as pain coursed through him. Falling to one knee, Naruto swore loudly and cursed the Hyūga.

…

Hari made quick work of Tenten's defenses. He had quickly determined her to be a weapon mistress that, although skilled, grossly relied on her giant scroll to unseal new weapons to fight. Hari's Iiadō was simply too quick to allow her to unseal new weapons and the added weight and annoyance of her giant sealing scroll made her incredibly vulnerable on close distance.

"Surrender!" Hari shouted at her. With a swift stroke of his blade he sliced the cords that suspended her giant scroll. Although she was more mobile now, she had no way of fighting him now she had been disarmed completely. "Surrender and I will be compassionate."

Tenten growled at him and lunged for a cord of the scroll. She was elated with relief when she pulled at the cord only for her smile to falter when she saw the cord had been cut for the second time. "Damn it!" Tenten threw a handful of kunai with deadly accuracy but as she had expected Hari effortlessly batted them aside with his Iiadō. "I give!" Tenten finally said raising her hands.

Hari smiled good-naturedly, he quite liked this kunoichi. "Good, now call of your friend." Hari had noticed Yugito was barely keeping up with Lee. He doubted even Naruto could last much longer than she could against the insanely fast taijutsu user. "Do it."

Tenten seemed to be dealing with her internal strife.

"Quickly," Hari hurried her. Yugito was getting her ass handed to her and she wasn't going to last very long. Hari rested the tip of his blade on her shoulder.

"I- I can't," Tenten finally decided, closing her eyes in anticipation of whatever reprisal Hari had for her.

"You won't have to," Naruto announced standing in on a tree branch with an unconscious Neji over his shoulder. "Hey, Geijimayu! Back off or pretty boy here gets it!" Naruto shouted at Lee.

The taijutsu specialist stopped dead in his tracks like a robot, his fist an inch away from a grounded Yugito's face. "Very well! It appears we have lost!" Even in defeat Lee seemed enthusiastic and amiable. "You must be a genius if you have defeated him!" Lee distanced himself from Yugito. "Most admirable."

"Tche! Me, a genius? Get outta here!" Naruto told him with a grin. Lee has an infectious smile and disposition that made it hard for Naruto to dislike the exuberant genin. "I work for my power. I don't use any others means than hard work!"

"Most admirable!" Lee shouted taking out his notepad and pencil. "Please share your knowledge with me, senpai! It is my dream to become a splendid ninja and to do that I must defeat a genius!"

"Then congratulations, you just beat the strongest kunoichi genin of Kumo!" Naruto rubbed his finger under his nose, enjoying Lee's shocked expression as well as Yugito's dismayed glare. No matter how you looked at it, he couldn't be harsh towards Lee as he could to others. The Geijimayu was too much like him to dislike him. "The name's Uzumaki Naruto. From what I heard you're Rock Lee."

"That's correct!" Lee confirmed.

"Let's become splendid ninja together, Lee!" Naruto aimed his fist towards Lee with a grin.

"YOSH! Even in defeat I am filled with inspiration, Naruto-kun!"

Naruto turned to Hari and nodded. The pseudo-medic promptly sheathed his blade and joined him. "Yugito, let's go," Naruto told the Nibi jinchūriki as she approached him with an annoyed look. "Here, tell his wise ass he can EAT IT next time he brings up his fate bullshit!" Naruto hoisted Neji easily with one hand and chucked him at Lee. "See you, Geijimayu! Don't forget our promise-"

A sudden wave of colossal chakra hit them. Naruto's eyes widened.

"What was that?"

-ooo-

"Chidori!" Sasuke shouted as he jumped of the ink bird Sai had drawn. The Uchiha flew downwards towards the Oto ninja and stabbed at the _giant_ snake he had summoned. The Chidori plunged through the serpent's skull and killed it instantaneously with a loud screech that drowned the noise of his Chidori. The Kusa kunoichi distanced her and sidestepped the second lunge of Sasuke's lightning attack. Sasuke made a hand seal and spat multiple balls of fire. "Hōsenka no Jutsu!" The fire balls missed the kunoichi who swiftly darted past them and grabbed onto his throat and jumped down the platform like branch and slammed him onto the earth. The thirty feet plunge lodged Sasuke into a small create as he felt his collarbone break by the sheer impact.

"SASUKE!" Sakura charged forward and charger her hands with chakra scalpels and rounded on the Kusa kunoichi. The screamed in fury and she stabbed, sliced and lunged at the kunoichi before her in a flurry. "Sai, get Sasuke!" Sakura felt the frustration built up in her as her Kusa adversary dodged, nimble and moving fluidly like snake to the left and right, avoiding all of her stabs with astonishing ease. "DIE!" Sakura overloaded the scalpel and went for a wide slash in the hopes of giving the Kusa kunoichi some chakra burns.

It was to no avail and the futile attack caused her to burn her own hand severely and be kicked in the stomach with such force her eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets as she was sent flying with incredible force into a tree where she was held suspended a foot above ground. The rosette slipped into unconsciousness, defenseless against the pack of snakes that flew at her.

"Chōjū Giga!" A pack of lions appeared before the kunoichi and bit at the snakes. Whilst the animals went at it, Sai charged forward unsheathing his tip-less tantō. His attempts were absolutely _futile_ as the kunoichi dodged his every move with fluid motions. The ink user made a one-handed hand seal and spat a gush of ink that formed into needles midair. The kunoichi bent her back at incredible and shot back up, using the momentum to head butt Sai which such power the impact cracked the metal plating on his headband. In pain Sai dropped his tantō to nurse his head but that proved to be a potential grave mistake as the kunoichi consequently planted her fist in his gut and grabbed onto his hair as he lurched. She held him up by his hair and repeatedly punched him in the face. Once she was finished she dropped him to the ground, blood flowing down his broken nose, jaw and chin bones. The ink beasts faltered and cancelled and were reduced to pools of ink.

"Now then," the kunoichi's tongue unfurled out of her mouth, gaining _inhuman_ lengths and picked up Sai's tantō. "Goodbye Danzō's fool!" The kunoichi went to stab with his tantō-brandishing tongue but was stopped when a kusarigama wrapped around him and the sharp scythe sunk three inches into his neck. "That's quite the odd way to use a weapon like this, Sasuke-kun," the kunoichi commented, appearing not to feel a single jolt of pain as she turned with a confident smirk. The kunoichi's eyes widened when she noticed the lightning generated in Sasuke's hand.

"Die!" Sasuke shouted, connecting the lightning to the metal chain. The kunoichi screamed in pain as she was electrocuted by the genin.

Sasuke got to his feet kicking his katana to Sai who caught in and sliced down the kunoichi's face.

"What the fuck is that?" Sasuke shouted.

The kunoichi had stopped screaming despite the fact Sasuke had continued to maintain the lightning conduct. Instead, once Sai has sliced down her face, it revealed to be nothing but an Earth Clone. Their enemy had been goading them along. Sasuke dashed forward with a battle cry and charged another Chidori in his hand. The kunoichi had regurgitated a katana and had it poised to swiftly decapitate the ink user as she appeared behind him, diving out of the earth.

"Sai get down!" Sasuke swiped his Chidori and aimed a hail of lightning senbon towards her. The kunoichi moved at an insane speed, gripping on to Sai's head and directing him before her as a human shield against the senbon.

Much to the Uchiha's horror, his teammate screamed in pain and fell face first to the dirt unmoving.

"Kukuku, now it's just you and me, Sasuke-kun."

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

In all honesty, I am _somewhat_ pleased with this chapter but at the same time I'm anxious. A lot of things going on and I really hope I manage to pull off what going for, plot-wise. A quick **reminder:** the second stage of the Chūnin Exam is for ten days **not** five, as stated in chapter twelve. Anyway, let's move on. I'm having some doubts with story, and I suppose that's quite normal considering the major plot twists I'm _planning_ on using but who knows, we'll see what happens. I hope you guys enjoy the chapter and leave a line or two to point out some errors, ask questions and give some criticism.

Now drop me a line or two cause I said so!

…

**Jutsu:**

_(Jutsu: Hakke Kūshō – Eight Trigrams Empty Palm!) - ? rank, offensive, short to midrange. This technique releases a powerful wave of energy through the use of a high-speed palm thrust aimed for a specific target rather than a general area. To perform it, the user precisely pinpoints the enemy's vital points with the Byakūgan and releases a high-speed palm thrust. A vacuum shell compressed using the Jūken is formed to violently push the opponent away. **Parent jutsu: **Jūken (Gentle Fist)._

_(Jutsu: Hakke Hasangeki – Eight Trigrams Mountain Crusher!) ? rank, offensive, short range. A more powerful variation of Hakke Kūshō. The user hits the target at close range with a powerful wave of chakra. The attack sends them flying back into a rock or wall, causing severe damage. Due to its powerful nature, the Hasangeki must be used on a short range in order to maintain control and accuracy. **Parent jutsu: **Hakke Kūshō (Eight Trigrams Empty Palm)._

_(Jutsu: Konoha Gōriki Senpū – Leaf Strong Whirlwind!) - B rank, offensive, short range. A taijutsu using a combination of speed and power. The essence of this technique is concentrated in a spinning back kick, with such speed that not a single person can follow the user's movement, smashing his enemy with overwhelming strength. **Parent jutsu:** Konoha Senpū (Leaf Whirlwind)._

* * *

**Kumo Nin Character Corner!**

Name: Seido Hari.

Alias(es): None.

Date of Birth: August 7.

Age: Fourteen.

Blood Type: A.

Affiliation(s): Kumogakure no Sato, Kaminari no Kuni.

Occupation: Shinobi.

Rank: Genin.

Classification: None.

Bounty: None.

Mini biography: Hari is a genin of Kumogakure and Naruto's best friend. He is known to be fiercely loyal, dependable and good-natured. However, Hari does not come without his faults as he is a shameless pervert at times and sometimes does not know his own limits, often resulting in injuries. Hari comes from a small clan of shinobi of whom only a few have ever risen beyond the rank of chūnin with the exception of his uncle and father. Hari carries a lot of guilt for the latter's actions that resulted in the Hyūga Incident when his father attempted to abduct Hyūga Hinata. Hari currently lives with his mother and younger twin siblings, Daichi and Nami, whom he is very protective of.

Weapon: Hari frequently uses a ninja-to in battle but he is not restricted to using it as he has other jutsu to his disposal.

Nature Type: Fire (affinity) and water.

Fighting Style: Hari prides himself for his skill in kenjutsu, having gained some skill in Iadō and being in the process of developing his own kenjutsu style: the Jouen-Ryū. However Hari does not rely solely on kenjutsu. When the situation demands it, Hari has quite a few elemental ninjutsu and other ninja skills to his disposal along with limited medical jutsu.

Techniques (25):

**Ninpō: **Henge (Tranformation), Bunshin (Clone), Kawarimi (Substitution), Shunshin (Body Flicker).

**Kenjutsu:** Jouen-Ryū (Flaming Desires of the Blade Style): Zangeki (Slashing Attack). Iaidō (Draw and Re-Sheath Art): Senkō Giri (Flashing Slash), Hitotachi (Stroke of the Blade). Kumo-Ryū (Cloud Style): Kakū Kibukiri Giri (Overhead Decapitating Slash) and other Cloud Style techniques.

**Ninjutsu: **Fūinjutsu: Yadama Fūin (Projectile Seal). Fūton Jutsu: Akkai Genshuku (Crushing Gravity). Suiton Jutsu: Mizurappa (Violent Water Wave), Suijinheki (Water Encampment Wall), Sūiben (Water Whip), Suirō (Water Prison). Doton Jutsu: Dochū Eigyo (Underground Fish Projection). Katon Jutsu: Hōsenka (Immortal Phoenix Flame), Hitama (Flame Shot), Endan (Fireball), Karyūdan (Fire Dragon Projectile), Ryūka (Dragon Fire). Raiton Jutsu: Raikō Jōshō (Lightning Climb), Raigan (Lightning Gun).


	21. Ants & Dragons Part I

**Kumogakure Ninja**

Posted: 16-04-11

Updated: 28-06-11

* * *

CH21: Ants & Dragons Part I

* * *

(Hokage Tower)

It was late and the sun had gone down hours ago, leaving the village hidden amongst the leaves under a blanket of indigo-blue skies and sparking stars. Konoha was lively at night almost as it was during the day; the villagers and shinobi alike indulged themselves in night time activities. The night time indulgences would cease at some point during the early hours when the village fell silent. The Hokage Tower however was never asleep, always awake. Every hour new reports would come in; news from corners all over the continent submitted by informant brokers and spies. The tower was never vacant, its staff systematically switching shifts every eight hours to preserve optimal efficiency. In the shinobi world information was more valuable than any jutsu. Even the tiniest pieces of data could lead to or perhaps prevent catastrophic incidents; hence the staff was always cautioned to be on vigilant, always, for their actions in the great Hokage Tower played a great influence in the affairs for their shinobi out in the battlefields.

Sarutobi Hiruzen, sat in his comfy velvet chair behind his desk, knew all too well how important the tower was. During the long years of his tenure there had been only a few incidents, but the incidents that _did_ happen. His firstborn had lost his life due to snowball effect of information slip-ups. Years ago, only three months before Konohamaru's birth, Sarutobi Kaen had died on the battlefield in a skirmish with rogue shinobi. To this day Sarutobi could not bring himself to forgive the chūnin staffer whom had, through his omission, failed to pass on an update on the rogue shinobi group Kaen's unit had been tasked with eliminating.

As a deep frown etched unto the Hokage's features a presence alerted him, prompting him to look up from the empty glass of alcoholic beverage and the picture of a man that resembled the Hokage in his late twenties.

An ANBU officer appeared, phasing upwards from the wooden floor as though intangible, and knelt before the Sandaime of Konoha. The operative bowed his head in respect and spoke with a cool, monotone voice. "Hokage-sama."

Hiruzen got out of his seat at leisurely pace and walked over to the front of his desk, tucking the picture away as he loomed over the kneeling ANBU. The _Sandaime_ placed his arms behind his back and eyed the ANBU officer with a blank expression. "What is it, Inu?" The ANBU officer seemed perturbed. In his over fifty years of service to Konoha, Sarutobi Hiruzen had rarely seen an ANBU as disturbed before him. Knowing something was wrong Hiruzen nodded. "Speak."

"It appears we have a problem, Hokage-sama," the ANBU operative reported. "ANBU officer 478 of squad seven has been killed in action on his S-ranked mission to the newly established Otogakure." The ANBU seemed not to be bothered by the loss of a comrade but rather by the botched mission. Understandably, the Hokage thought. Officer 478 had been a triple-digit, too much of a rookie or simply not good enough to have climbed the ranks and acquire an animal codename. Those were reserved for the captains and lieutenants of the ANBU department that answered exclusively to the Hokage. They were the silent guardians of Konoha, the vanguards that risked their lives for their village and country for nothing in return.

"Before 478's death, he managed to send a messenger hawk."

"ANBU officer 478… Kama, A-ranked ANBU operative of squad seven. Three years of service and twenty-three missions completed," the _Sandaime_ stated; his voice was laced with a faint disappointment as if he had hoped to make use of the deceased ANBU for a few more years. "How unfortunate." It was his job to know every detail of his ANBU officers as it was the_ Hokage's_, not Konoha's, private department. The _Hokage_ was the only one who could pass judgment on carefully selected prospects and it depended on the _Hokage_ who could and who couldn't enter the hundred-twenty million ryō per annual project.

_Sarutobi Hiruzen_ was the nicest person anyone would ever meet. He was the doting grandfather, the loving husband, the great teacher, the beloved Hokage and so much more. Those of all generations looked up to him in reverence for his compassion and wisdom as he was the Professor. _The Sandaime_ however was the God of all Shinobi and he was the cold and cut-throat leader of Konoha. He was the man who would make the important decisions that had to be made, regardless of what horrible consequences those entailed. Be it the assassination of a Daimyō's daughter to send a message or to send his shinobi on suicide missions vital for the sake of Konoha and _Hi no Kuni (Fire Country)._ Such was the duty of the Hokage, to sacrifice some of his humanity for the greater good of the village.

"His last message, what was it, Inu?"

"'I have found the village of Otogakure. Gama's suspicions were correct. The village is indeed run by none other than S-ranked rogue shinobi and former Konoha jōnin Orochimaru, the Snake Sannin. The village appears to be in the middle of preparations for something big. I fear they are planning to launch an attack, their target is unknown as of yet. From my observations, I believe they have roughly a hundred jōnin classed shinobi, roughly double the amount of chūnin but oddly enough hardly any genin. The few genin here may simply be used as agents to infiltrate the Chūnin Exams… I finish this reporting stating I have spotted several internationally wanted shinobi. I must express the belief Otogakure may pose a bigger threat that reports had initially estimated.'" The ANBU captain recited the message word-for-word with a monotone tone.

The Sandaime nodded with a heavy sigh. "Jiraiya was correct. I had hoped he was not," he then admitted. Even his on and off switch between the compassionate Hiruzen and the heartless Sandaime was imperfect. Years ago he had allowed his former student, Orochimaru, defected after having committed countless atrocities upon humanity, including amongst other things: unsanctioned experiments on citizens and shinobi he had kidnapped. Back then _Hiruzen_ had hesitated. Unable to kill the man he thought of as a son, who would replace him one day. He had truly hoped Orochimaru would become his successor, his legacy for Konoha. The Hokage, neither Hiruzen nor the Sandaime, wondered how it would have been if he had not spotted Orochimaru's obsession with experiments and jutsu. Had he not supported Minato, would Konoha have thrived under Orochimaru's reign or would it have forsaken the Will of Fire?

The Sandaime balled his hands into fists within his sleeves and curtly nodded to the ANBU operative. "You are dismissed, Inu. I will take over from here."

"That is not all, Hokage-sama." Inu waited momentarily for a nod and continued once he the Sandaime did so. "Orochimaru may have already infiltrated Konohagakure."

"What?" The Sandaime demanded. "What has prompted this train of thought, Inu? Orochimaru would not be such a fool to come personally." The Sandaime almost gritted his teeth, regretting the council's decision of allowing Otogakure entrance into the exams. He made a note to have the intelligence department launch investigations upon each councillor, this was simply too big of a coincidence.

"Previous reports from Gama stated Orochimaru had joined the S-ranked criminal organization Akatsuki. Weeks after rogue ANBU operative Uchiha Itachi joined the same organization, Orochimaru had left it. Gama hazarded a guess, and I think it is a good one, Orochimaru made attempts to steal the Sharingan and failed, prompting him to leave."

"Uchiha Sasuke," the Sandaime caught on immediately. Of course, why he hadn't he foreseen this? Anger began to build up in the Hokage as neither the Sandaime or Hiruzen would ever allow the young generations to be sacrificed for the selfish desires of older generations. As the Sandaime Hokage of Konoha, he would protect the next generation at all costs. Even if the cost was his own life.

"Yes, we have reason to believe he has set his sights on Uchiha Itachi's younger brother, Uchiha Sasuke. The younger Uchiha may be a prodigy but he is no match for Orochimaru. If he would fall into Orochimaru's hands… we could face catastrophic incidents. You know better than anyone else what Orochimaru's ambitions entail, Hokage-sama."

"That I do," the Sandaime nodded.

"What will you have me do, Hokage-sama? The entire ANBU department is at your disposal as always."

"I am well aware, thank you," the Sandaime nodded again. "I want squad one and two at the Forest of Death. Squads three to six are to be in civilian clothes to check the entrances at all cardinal points," the Sandaime paused for a moment and then nodded not to Inu but himself. "Squads seven to ten on indefinite border patrol. Squads eleven and twelve are to find Jiraiya."

"Understood, Hokage-sama." The ANBU operative remained kneeled.

"Dismissed."

The Hokage watched Inu phase downwards through the wooden floor and asked himself when the time came… would he be the Sandaime or Hiruzen?

-ooo-

(Forest of Death)

"CHIDORI!" Sasuke screamed at the top of his lungs as he lunged at the kunoichi before him. The young Uchiha's eyes widened once his brain registered his wrist had been caught by the Oto kunoichi. "Im- impossible!" He shouted. Foreign chakra entered his pathways and destabilized the Chidori in his hand and making it spin in a volatile manner as though about to explode. "No!"

_BOOM!_

Sasuke hurtled towards a boulder, bounced off it and continued to skid over the ground before coming to a painful stop in a riverbed. He coughed blood, pain coursing through his body as he crawled to his feet. In addition to his broken collar bone, he had now bruised at least two ribs when he had bounded of the boulder.

"Kukuku…" the kunoichi slowly walked towards him in a serpentine fashion, swaying from left to right and dodging his hail of projectiles. "Resistance is futile, Sasuke-kun." The kunoichi cackled as she neared him with her hands stretched before her. "Sen'eijashu!" Half a dozen serpents shot out of her sleeves and wrapped around Sasuke, constricting his movements fully as they tightened like ninja wire.

"Get away from me!" Sasuke shouted; the snakes coiled around him and flicker their forked tongues at his face. The entire battle had been one-sided. None of his attacks had been even _remotely_ effective. The kunoichi before him made him feel like he was some insignificant bug. It was as if he was an _ant_ fighting a fearsome _dragon._ "You freak!" Sasuke made an attempt to move his hands but was foiled by the snakes that instantly coiled around his wrists and jerked them away from each other so fast it nearly broke both his wrists.

"My, you are the complete opposite of your brother," the kunoichi cackled. A predatorily smile crept to her face; her neck began to grow to unsightly lengths and she regurgitated her blade once again. "Fortunately, I have no need for you alive. You have already fully matured your Sharingan and your body will flourish to great heights under my control."

"Ita- Itachi?" Sasuke's eyes bulged, his attempts to form a hand seal ceased. "What do you mean, you will take my body? How do you know my brother?" Sasuke screamed at her. There were so many questions unanswered and the kunoichi before him simply cackled in glee. "Answer me!"

"I know Itachi quite well, Sasuke-kun." Even with her tongue tied around her blade's hilt she could speak clearly. "He was admittedly my first target. So young yet so powerful- I was no match for him. I watched him as a child, waited for him to grow into a fine young man so I could take his body for myself. I failed… because unlike you, Uchiha Itachi is a _true_ prodigy. A genius of unrivalled talents. At the tender age of four he had fought in Third Shinobi World War. After the war he returned to the academy and graduated within months. At age eight he had already become a chūnin and fully mastered the Sharingan. By thirteen he had become a jōnin and not long after he joined the ANBU. Within a couple of months he had ascended from a triple digit to become an ANBU captain commanding his own squad! It was unheard of... and all of these feats by the age of thirteen!"

Sasuke's eyes were still bulging, not an utter left his throat despite the burning desire to scream at her. It shocked him to no end how much the Oto kunoichi knew about his brother. Painful memories he had long since buried deep into his subconscious were beginning to resurface.

"And what of you, Sasuke-kun? At the age of fourteen you are yet a genin! What happened to the potential in you that allowed you to unlock the Sharingan at seven years old?" The kunoichi turned angry, as though disappointed for reasons he did not comprehend. "Yes, I know much of you, too, Uchiha Sasuke. Unlocked your Sharingan at the age of seven, trained in private by none other than Sharingan no Kakashi, the son of Hatake Sakumo, Konoha's White Fang. You were given years to train undisturbed, you could have made a name for yourself! Instead, what do you have after all these years? A fully matured Sharingan yet no wit to use it properly. You are undeserving of the Uchiha sight… I will therefore take it for myself," the kunoichi spoke with finality and slowly began to approach him. "I will make this quick."

"Fuck you!" Sasuke screamed with fury. In his panic he did not even think to demand how the kunoichi knew of his Sharingan or so much about Itachi. With a desperate scream Sasuke flared his lightning chakra and called forth a shroud of electricity, electrocuting himself and the snakes coiled around him. A horrible scream came from his mouth but he did not hear it. He focused himself on the lightning rather than the pain. The snakes died quickly, some with a screech, and Sasuke was on his feet in a blink of an eye and shouted, "Katon! Gōkakyū!" The enormous fireball the size of a small house came crashing down towards the Oto kunoichi, leaving a trail of fire.

The kunoichi smiled approvingly. "Yes, claw your way to survival! Face me, Uchiha Sasuke, your life depends on it!" She cackled as she sliced the air, effectively cutting the fireball in half dissipating it. "Will you run or fight? You'll die either way."

There was no way in hell he stood a chance against her, and Sasuke knew this. He hated himself for it but he knew he had to escape. If he died here and now who would take over his ambition and avenge the House of Uchiha? Grateful for his Sharingan's copying abilities and Sharingan eyes spinning wildly, he went through a string of hand seals, slapped his hands together and entangled his fingers to form the final hand seal: the serpent. An earth platform rose before him and began to hail an onslaught of spikes.

The raven-haired genin then turned on his heels and dashed towards the denser area of the forest. The serpentine kunoichi was right behind him, having bypassed the earth jutsu with ease.

'She's a monster!' Sasuke decided as he ran up the thickest and tallest tree in the forest around him. The sixty feet ascend was a difficult task whilst avoiding a sword-brandishing tongue with a twenty feet long reach. The Uchiha banked to the left and ran across its circumference, going through another string of hand seals. "Katon! Hōsenka no Jutsu!" Sasuke pinned a kunai with a length of ninja wire attached it, turning around and spat a haze of fireballs.

As expected the kunoichi zigzagged past them out of sheer reflex and shot forward a hand stretched out for his throat. Once again grateful for his Uchiha sight, Sasuke leaned backwards a split second before the kunoichi could grab onto him and began his counterattack. The Uchiha wrapped the kunai around her wrist, stepped past her lunge and lodged another kunai in the tree bark. They proceeded to enter a dance in an oddly elegant manner: Sasuke would step closer, step back, step aside; the kunoichi would continue to swipe and lunge at him. With every dodge Sasuke lodged another kunai in the bark and further restricted the kunoichi's movement.

_Thonk! Thonk! Thonk!_

"ARGH!" The kunoichi found herself trapped in an elaborate bind of ninja wire. At first she had been restricted in movement, then she had been confined to a smaller range and now she had been successfully incapacitated by the young Uchiha scion.

Sasuke smirked confidently and jumped backwards. He touched down on another branch of the freakishly large trees in the _Forest of Death._

_Thonk!_

A final kunai embedded itself in the bark below. If lightning did not work, he would burn her and render her to crisps. "Uchiha Honoo Ōgi!" Sasuke began to go through a _long_ string of hand seals and focused his chakra. This jutsu was a coveted technique developed many generations ago by the founders of the Uchiha clan. This jutsu was extremely complicated and required a perfect string of _two-hundred-thirty-two hand seals._ He had yet to master this technique and he _knew_ it was a difficult jutsu, even with his Sharingan. He had not even had opportunity to use it battle and he _knew_ this was risky; he was perfectly aware this could go wrong and he _knew_ the possible consequences. Yet, he _also_ knew if he did not take this opportunity and fled, she would soon be after him and she would not be likely to fall for the same trick twice. "JŌKA!"

_(Jutsu: Uchiha Honoo Ōgi! Jōka – Uchiha Fire Secret! Sacred Fire!)_

A powerful stream of chakra erupted from the pit of his stomach, travelled through his chest and burst out in a brilliant golden-red-and-blue wave of fire. The heat was so powerful it wrinkled the air and set leafs on fire as it surged towards the tied up kunoichi of Otagakure. As the fire surged forward like an ethereal being, Sasuke could hear the kunoichi's fearful screams.

_BOOM!_

_An earth-shattering explosion followed._

Fire spread everywhere. The animals around them in area screeched and roared in terror. A stampede shook the earth below and reverberated through the tree branches. Those that could took to the skies flapping their wings frantically and those that couldn't took part in the panicked stampede consisting of animals ranging from giant centipedes to enormous bears.

Sasuke fell to a knee, his chakra reserves had plummeted tremendously.

_And it was all to no avail._

As the smoke cleared and the walls of fire had settled, an enormous silhouette became visibly behind the walls of flames. The silhouette continued its approach, swaying in a serpentine fashion, and passed past the fire slowly, as if unaffected by them.

Sasuke's eyes bulged incredibly as he softly muttered, "N- no… Im- impossible."

An enormous serpent hissed at him, its ten foot long forked tongue flickered erratically. The scales on its crown contorted and eventually the kunoichi sprout out of its heads at hip length. Half of her visage was burned off and along with her hair and that was when the young Uchiha's heart skipped a few beats: half of her visage was that of a young woman, the other that of a grey-skinned man, with slanted yellow slit eyes.

"Perhaps I was wrong," the _creature_ announced with a cackle. "Allow me to formally introduce myself, Sasuke-kun. I am Orochimaru the Snake Sannin."

Sasuke could barely breathe. _Everyone_ in Konoha knew who Orochimaru the Snake Sannin was. It all made sense to him now. No wonder he had been unable to land a single hit on him. He had been fighting one of Konoha's war heroes, one of the legendary Sannin. A once widely celebrated shinobi legend of Konohagakure known for his mastery of over a thousand ninjutsu, holder of the serpent summoning contract and revered for his scientific exploits. A mere genin fresh from the academy had no business challenging the great Orochimaru, even if he _was_ an Uchiha.

As it all dawned upon him, Sasuke realized how true his analogy had been. He was truly facing a dragon.

"From that absolutely _delightful_ expression I can tell you know who you're up against, Sasuke-kun." Orchimaru reached to his face and ripped of the drooping skin that had once belonged to a kunoichi of Kusagakure. In another swift movement Orochimaru changed to his own grey shinobi garb, black pants and purple bow. "Now then, I'll be taking what I came for," Orochimaru said with a wicked expression. _'Shikumi!'_

Sasuke screamed in absolute horror as images of himself and those that he cared for went through his mind. He saw Sakura's naked, bruised and battered body, stained by fluids of men she did not love, laid down on the grass, her expression set into that of horror from which she was blissfully released by a slit throat, continuing to ooze blood. Sai was hung of a tree by a rope with a perpetual smile carved in his face by knife and a giant gaping hole the size of a watermelon in his chest. Kakashi was decimated in a gory sight, quartered; his limbs symbolically rearranged into a fully matured Sharingan. "AAAHH!" Sasuke held onto his head as he screamed his throat hoarse. More and more images went through his minds; those of his murdered family, his teammates and his peers. Everyone he had ever remotely cared for appeared in images that depicted their gruesome murders.

All the while Orochimaru cackled in glee, fully emerged from the snake. Orochimaru jumped off the snake and stuck to a tree. By silent instruction the giant serpent reared its green scaled body and shot forward with a hiss, intending to kill the defenseless Uchiha.

Sasuke's eyes widened. The snake's mouth had parted to such extent he could see the saliva drip of its fangs.

He couldn't move.

_He was going to die._

_CRACK!_

A sudden blur of black and yellow shot down in front of him.

"Sasuke, MOVE!"

-ooo-

Naruto's heel dropped into the giant serpent's skull with a _CRACK!_ He pressed onwards with his heel and drove it deeper down the serpent's scales, sinking through the beast's skull. The summon slumped and fell to its death. As it died, Naruto ran down its head and jumped forward and landed next to his teammates as they stood before Sasuke with weapons drawn.

"Sasuke what the fuck are you doing?" Naruto shouted at him. There was no reply so he nudged Hari instead. "Check on him."

Orochimaru chuckled without mirth. "What do we have here? Uzumaki Naruto, the Kyūbi no Yokō." Orochimaru slithered across the tree's circumference, saliva dripping down his tongue and eyes fixated hungrily on his raven-haired prey.

The remark had its obvious effect as the Kumo genin tensed and looked at each other, exchanging dark and knowing looks. Naruto gritted his teeth and looked over his shoulder at Hari. "What's up with him?" According to Yugito they were facing none other than _S-ranked_ rogue ninja Orochimaru. There was no way they stood a chance the way they were now. "Hari!"

"He's gone into shock," Hari concluded. "He's not banged up enough for it, but I think he's under some genjutsu or the pure killing intent could have put him in this state." Hari looked to Naruto and exchanged nods.

_SLAP!_

Sasuke's eyes fluttered. He instantly took a deep breath, desperate for air. He had forgotten to breathe while in his shocked state. In his panic he reached out to strangle Hari but he pseudo medic ninja batted his arms aside and grabbed him by the collar, shaking him.

"Snap out of it!" Hari went to strike Sasuke once more.

The Uchiha caught his wrist, having snapped out of his daze and held it a tight grip. "What are you doing?" Sasuke demanded with a scowl through gritted teeth. Letting go of the Kumo genin's wrist Sasuke held onto his own bruised cheek with a frustrated glare. "What are you doing here?"

"Looks like he's back," Hari ignored him. Eyeing Naruto he exchanged another nod before rounding on as Sasuke, green chakra sparked from his hands to heal his wounds. "Hold still," Hari commanded.

Sasuke made no move to resist, recognizing the familiar shade of chakra his female teammate Sakura made use of- "Sakura! Sai!" Sasuke shouted suddenly. "My team, they're back at our camp and they're in bad shape."

"They'll have to wait, Sasuke," Naruto spoke up as he eyed the Snake Sannin. Clenching his fists and frowning Naruto's mind raced through various tactics and strategies they could use against Orochimaru. None came to mind. Then again, how could they possibly have prepared for an S-ranked ninja to get involved with the exam? A sudden movement on his right caught his eyes.

Yugito aimed at Orochimaru with her right arm, gripping her elbow with her left. "Shūrai!" A thick beam of lightning speedily surged towards the Snake Sannin. Orochimaru dodged at an incredible speed, his entire body gaining length, shifting into a white-scaled serpent. Like the serpent he was, Orochimaru dodged the following Lightning Gun barrage with ease.

"Naruto, we don't have tactics to deal with a foe like him. We need to retreat!" Yugito yelled, jumping forwards onto another branch to continue her barrage. "I'll try to hold him off. You get Hari and your friend out of here!"

"No!" Naruto declined, feeling angry she could think he could abandon her.

His shout fell on deaf ears as Yugito pressed on her attack, cart wheeling midair as she jumped from branch to branch. The serpent zigzagged between the fat bolts of lightning in fluid motions, it was for too easy in his serpentine mode, and spat out his blade and held it horizontally between his teeth. Naruto darted forward with two kunai drawn blocked the downwards slash Yugito was too slow to intercept.

_CLING!_

"Yugito!"

He didn't need to say more. The Nibi jinchūriki understood him perfectly and went through a few hand seals. A flower-shaped fireball flew towards the jinchūriki and Sannin in stalemate. Naruto flipped backwards midair, sticking himself to the blade in Orochimaru's mouth and propelled off it as the Hōenka collided with the Sannin. Naruto touched down on another branch and went through another string of hand seals. "Akkai Genshuku!" The wind blast added to the small inferno caused it to expand three times its original size before exploding with an ear-splitting _bang!_

Naruto stood a few a feet away from Yugito, his eyes and nostrils wide and his ears piqued for any sign of Orochimaru. There was no way in hell that was even remotely enough to actually harm the serpent, or any shinobi of his caliber for that matter. It did, however, buy them some time to think.

"Come on you snake bastard, come on out!" Naruto shouted, looking from his right to his left, attempting to determine his foe's position.

A rustle of leaves caught his attention and he quickly turned around to see Orochimaru dash towards him, reverted to his regular form and his blade now in his hand, poised for an attack. The Sannin raised his blade for a downward slash and was disappointed as the 'Naruto' he cut down turned out to be a Kage Bunshin. A second later, the Sannin was forced to turn around as the real Naruto flew at him from the behind Orochimaru with a vortex of air covering his right arm.

"DAI GIRI!"

The monstrous gravity that came with the impact held Orochimaru at bay and the Snake Sannin was forced to hold his blade held out in front of him horizontally and push it by its tip and hilt to hold off the Shippū Shūren. Caught by surprise once he noticed his wind blade did not pass through the metal as usual, Naruto faltered. Orochimaru took the opening with a feral grin and sliced at him only to once again being disappointed as it turned out to be another Kage Bunshin.

Naruto counted himself lucky for having spawned clones to Substitute himself with prior and delivered palm strike. "Akkai Genshuku!" The blast shot at Orochimaru who simply sliced it in half with ease before turning to bat away the incoming Raiken Yugito threw his way. "What the-"

Orochimaru did not even budge, almost ignoring Yugito slamming down the Lightning Fist on to his blade. "Kukuku… the Kusanagi is a long sought Shinken. It is impervious to chakra and will simply absorb it and all other substances to increase its sharpness and strengthen its metal." With a sudden movement, Orochimaru sliced at Yugito, digging the blade in her skin over her stomach. The Sannin followed up with a vicious kick to her side and sent her flying.

Yugito screamed, painfully crashing into a branch with her back and dropped to the ground with a painful crunch. Naruto shouted out to her and surged forward and caught her midair, dashing between branches and jumped onto another branch. She was bleeding profusely and there was too much blood for him to see where to clamp the wound down.

Rage coursed through his body and gripped his heart.

"This is too dangerous, Yugi," it was a nickname he never dared to use, "You need to get out of here. Try and get help if you can… I'm going to hold him off for as long as possible!" Naruto didn't pay her protests heed and charged off a second later.

…

Naruto dashed towards Orochimaru, running across the giant tree's bark and engaged him in a furious taijutsu battle. They were moving so fast they were blurs and they crumpled the air each time their fists connected.

Naruto ducked to avoid the Snake Sannin's tongue stroke and swiped at his legs. Orochimaru jumped over his leg and held up his arms to guard against the roundhouse Naruto followed up with, noting the genin carried quite a punch despite his short stature. Naruto pressed on and dashed after the flying Sannin and charged chakra to his fists as he began to pummel at his enemy's defenses. Orochimaru seemed unperturbed by the strikes, content with blocking them rather than dodging them. It was almost insulting- it _was_ insulting, Naruto thought as he distanced himself from the Sannin and punched an Akkai Genshuku as he did so.

Orochimaru elbowed the blast aside with ease, leaned forward and moved at such a speed it was like he teleported next to the genin. In a blink of an eye the serpent had travelled over thirty yards and punched him with such force saliva and blood spat out of Naruto's mouth as he flew into another tree. They had to stop fighting up in the trees! It was crazy how much damage he took from smashing into trees alone. Naruto overloaded his soles with chakra to literally fly at the Sannin, performing a front flip midair as he did so to land a heel drop. Orochimaru took the heel drop without so much as a grunt and gripped on to his slim frame, gripping Naruto's shoulders and began to repeatedly head butt him. Blood ran down Naruto nose, lips and chin under the onslaught of skull on skull impact.

"Ack!" Naruto reared back his head in soaring pain but screamed in absolutely fury and returned the last head butt with such force Orochimaru involuntarily let go. "WHO THE FUCK HAS A STRONGER HEAD NOW?" Naruto dashed forward, not wanting to give up the momentum and launched a furry of kicks and punches with a vengeance. Swirling midair he finished his barrage of attacks with a crushing roundhouse kick that made Orochimaru crashed into a tree and bound of it with such impact he left the bark cracked.

As he fell down, Orochimaru aimed his arm below him and shouted, "Kuchiyose no Jutu!"

_POOF!_

A giant snake appeared below Orochimaru with a tremendous pillar of spoke. Touching down on its head Orochimaru wiped the saliva off his chin. "Impressive taijutsu, Uzumaki Naruto!" Despite the young jinchūriki's efforts, he was still unscathed. His skin may seem smooth to the blind eye but in actual fact it was infused with the toughest of scales cultivated from his experiments, causing him to rarely bleed. Still, Orochimaru commended the genin for his high level taijutsu, it was perhaps even at the level of a jōnin.

The serpent following Orochimaru's mental commands charged towards the genin with a screeching hiss. Naruto's chakra flared to tremendous levels as he unleashed his full reserves. He couldn't care less if he once again alerted the entire forest. He could very well die this time. "TAJUU KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" Five hundred clones burst into existence with pillars of smoke, attaching themselves to trees and all shouting excited, some even pumping their fists. "Prepare to die, asshole!" They all shouted simultaneously, jumping forward to meet the engorged serpent head on.

Orochimaru was hard pressed, dodging between projectiles, Fūton jutsu and taijutsu moves. Still, he was the Snake Sannin for a reason and so clapped his hands together. Naruto didn't catch the name of the jutsu but it was like an extremely high powered version of his Daitoppa that pushed his clones away with such force many of them burst in pillars of smoke before even hitting their surroundings. Branches and the occasional tree were being ripped out and flung about!

Naruto darted forward and formed two Shippū Shūren, shooting into the columns of smoke that hid his position.

"DAI GIRI!" Naruto unleashed a power slash of his twenty foot long Shippū Shūren sliced through the smoke and decapitated the snake summon as well as sliced Orochimaru's cheek, cutting a shallow wound in the Sannin's tough scales and drawing blood in the process.

Angered at the prospect of being bled by a wet-behind-the-ears genin, Orochimaru disappeared instantly by the use of a Shunshin and appeared next to Naruto and punched him with such force the genin couldn't even move his finger tips as he was sent hurtling towards a tree. A split second before he crashed Naruto flipped midair with a burst of chakra emitting from his soles and crashed in the tree with such force he left a crater behind that cracked another ten inches further into core of the tree. His breathing was getting laboured whilst Orochimaru seemed to still be at top form, licking his cheek with a twisted grin. The Sannin hadn't even broken a sweat.

"Damn it," Naruto exclaimed frustrated. With a fluid movement he took of what remained of his shin guards and jacket but not before retrieving a few scrolls from them. They landed with a loud _thud_ on the forest floor over thirty feet below him. 'I might actually die.'

Orochimaru eyed his movements. "Oh, weighted clothing? Interesting," he noted. "It is too late for any of your triumph cards, Kyūbi," Orochimaru goaded.

It worked.

"What did you call me?" Naruto's voice was filled with rage as he made eye contact with the Sannin. "What the fuck did you just call me?" Anger. It was starting to effect his judgment as right now he had to restrain himself from attacking the Sannin.

"Oh?" Orochimaru licked his lips. "You don't truly believe you aren't the Kyūbi, do you? 'Jinchūriki'… don't make me laugh you pitiful creature. You are nothing but a beast trapped into the body of talentless fool. You sicken me."

Naruto's eyes turned into red with slits as he held out the red scroll before him. "Ninjutsu Fūshi Hōin! Karyūdan no Jutsu!" Fire erupted from the scroll and towards the Sannin, shaping up to be one of Hari's Fire Dragons. Naruto dropped the scroll, catching in the pivot of his foot and went through a string of seals to make this particular jutsu stronger. "Fūton Daitoppa!"

As the jutsu collided, they fused into a much larger Karyūdan that swept over the Snake Sannin. Orochimaru went through a string of hand seals of his own and spewed a blast of water, as though some piston that easily extinguish the overgrown Fire Dragon.

Powerlessness crept over Naruto as he for the time in the battle clearly comprehended how much of a difference there was in power. Orochimaru had years of experience and jutsu under his belt, and what did he have? Nothing, he hadn't even officially been a ninja for a year whist Orochimaru had been a shinobi for well over forty years!

'I've got no other choice,' he finally gave in. He had been slipping into it anyway, now he had no choice but to do it. It was either making use of the fox or certain death. Naruto chose to live. "UAARGH!"

Orochimaru's eyes widened momentarily with the explosion of crimson coloured chakra that swept in a spiral around the youth.

_(Jutsu: Ninjutsu Fūshi Hōin! – Ninjutsu Sealing Method!)_

-ooo-

Yugito held her stomach, hissing at the stinging pain but bit her lip and made a hand seal, focusing on her seal and on the Nibi. In her bout of concentration, she unintentionally screamed down on her wound. It took all of willpower to not to scream in pain. Ignoring the fact that she could_ touch her intestines_ Yugito took deep, laboured breaths. 'Focus,' she repeated time after time as a mantra. 'Focus on healing yourself. Naruto needs you. Focus!'

Bluish-black chakra came to life in her hand. Staring at it and her life threatening wound, Yugito knew what she would have to do. The Nibi was being held up by the half a dozen enforcement seals she and Naruto had put on them regularly by Kirabi. With some time, the Nibi's chakra would have seeped through and the wounds would have healed.

There was _no_ time now.

A colossal chakra Yugito had gotten familiar with as a child alerted her. Looking up in the sky she saw the crimson chakra overflowing. Naruto was in trouble. He needed her.

'Naruto…' Yugito said grimly. Her finger tips burned with the Nibi's chakra. 'I'm coming.'

A horrible scream rang throughout the forest.

-ooo-

Hari raised his hand from Sai with a tired sigh, the green chakra died in his hand. He got up and turned to Sasuke and nodded to him reassuringly. "He's going to make it. He's pretty banged up but he will make it. He's got some pretty bad chakra burns on his back I can't treat, but if you get him to see a real doctor soon he should be fine."

Sasuke sighed in relief. It was uncharacteristically of him but right he couldn't care less about appearances' sake. Having the deaths of his family plague him was more than enough. He did not want the deaths of his teammates haunt him like it did to Kakashi, as his jōnin instructor had confided with him. "Good," Sasuke finished up fixing the kusarigama on his hip. "Thank you," he added begrudgingly once he saw Hari's furious expression.

"That's a chokutō," Hari pointed out, indicating the blade on Sasuke's hip. "I'll be taking that in exchange for saving your teammates," Hari made beckoning motion with his hand. He had discarded is own ninja-to a few days ago after he had attempted his Jōen-Ryū and was now making use of Naruto's blade instead. Neither was made of chakra tempering steel required for his Jōen-Ryū though, and by the looks of it, the chikutō on Sasuke's hip was of fine quality.

"Take it," Sasuke complied easily, gripping onto the scabbard. This was not his only blade anyway. He had taken precautions and stored another in a scroll before the Chūnin Exam, Kakashi had taught him how to. "We're even now," Sasuke said throwing the scabbard to Hari.

Hari caught it deftly, withdrew the blade and examined it. "Not quite," Hari told him. "You repaid you debt to _me_ for healing your teammates. This has nothing to do with Yugito and Naruto who are fighting Orochimaru to hold him off as we speak."

"Hn," Sasuke refused to acknowledge that truth. "The blade is made of metal tempered with chakra," Sasuke pointed out as he reached to his pouch and withdrew another scroll. "It's valuable enough. And I never asked you people to help me."

"No, you didn't, but did you think Naruto would let you die?" Hari channeled chakra into the blade through the hilt and noted how pricy this blade must have been. Then again, the Uchiha Clan was extremely wealthy and being the sole lawful heir, this probably did not even begin to dent Sasuke's bank account. "He's too much of a fool to let you die."

_Poof!_

"Why does he care anyway?" Sasuke asked through gritted teeth, gripping onto the spare chikutō he had unsealed. He could clearly remember having made his intentions towards Naruto only a few hours ago. "Even when he still lived in Konoha as a child, we never spoke. We weren't friends."

"Of course you weren't," Hari said easily. "That has nothing to do with why he wants to keep an eye on you, Sasuke."

"Then why?"

Hari frowned deeply.

_…Flasback_

Team Kirabi were hopping branches as fast as they could with Naruto in the lead, closely followed by Yugito and Hari. Mere minutes after they had defeated the Hyūga and his teammates and not even an hour after assembling all four scrolls.

"Naruto, why are we heading towards that chakra?" Yugito demanded, trying to catch up with her fellow blonde.

Naruto did not turn as he spoke. "I can feel Sasuke's chakra. It's faint compared to the other guy, but it's there. And I thought I told you two to wait, why are you following me?" Now Naruto did turn with a serious expression on his face. "This is going to be dangerous."

"Exactly!" Yugito snapped at him. "Why would you want to risk your life for him? I thought you said these people weren't your friends. Answer me, Naruto!" Yugito added forcefully, grabbing onto Naruto midair and forcing him to a halt on a thick branch.

Hari landed on another branch and eyed Naruto with similar confusion as Yugito. It was frustrating how vague and unresponsive Naruto was being. Why did he care for this Uchiha Sasuke? Why did he care enough to rush out and save him against an enemy with such tremendous chakra levels? Whoever the Uchiha was facing, it couldn't be a genin, or a chūnin for that matter. The chakra was simply too vast and powerful for anyone but a jōnin at the very least. 'Then again,' Hari though dryly, 'These two have more chakra than most jōnin. Especially Naruto, he's like fucking Kenpachi only real.' Perhaps it was little childish to compare his friend to an anime figure but it was a valid comparison nonetheless and here they were, off to fight someone who was most likely out of their league.

"Naruto, why do you care for this guy?" Hari asked with a more empathic tone than Yugito, who simply seemed annoyed. As Naruto's best friend he was more likely to get a straight answer, he hoped. "You know we're not going to let you go on your own, so at least tell us what this is about."

Yugito shot Hari a look and nodded, acknowledging she wasn't going to get anything of Naruto by grilling him and instead fell silent, waiting for an answer.

"I don't care for him, Hari, Yugito," Naruto's tone was surprisingly cold and detached. "Not in the way you think. He's not my friend or anything, I hardly know the guy."

Hari almost lost it and raised his voice. "Then why-"

"Because, he and I are the very same," Naruto answered before the question could be asked. "Sasuke's a lot like me in more than one way and the only reason I care about what happens to him is because I want to see for myself."

"See what?" Yugito asked softly. Naruto was for once without a smile or a cheerful disposition. No, instead he spoke quietly and softly. It reminded her of the night he gave her one of his temporary tattoos; he had been surprisingly mature that night and now he was displaying the same level-headed air.

Naruto looked his teammates in the eyes. "What I could have become had I never let go of the anger… I've only spoken to him two times, before the first stage and a few days ago but it was enough to see. He's got a lot of pent up hate and I'm the only one he'll acknowledge to understand him."

"That's got nothing to do with us or you," Yugito said coldly. "This is reckless, Naruto. It's not your burden to bare."

Naruto chuckled. "It is because I want it to be. I'm the only one that understands him and I'm not going to abandon him. Kirabi taught me better than that, Yugito. He taught you better than that too." Yugito flinched at this. "Remember what he told us about his best friend Motoi trying to kill him? This is something like that, Yugito. Even if Sasuke's not a Kumo shinobi, he's someone I'm connected to whether I want to or not. I can't say I like it but I won't turn away from it."

Yugito opened her mouth to give an angry retort but Hari cut her off.

"That's enough, Yugito. He's made up his mind, you know how he gets."

Naruto winked at Hari and set off once again, jumping tree branches with his teammates close behind him.

_End Flasback…_

"Answer me," Sasuke demanded.

As Hari opened his mouth to retort, a wave of monstrous chakra swept over them.

"That's Naruto!" Hari had only experienced the feel of the demonic chakra once back in Kumo. He would never forget its distinct feel. "If you want to repay your debts, follow me. If not, take your teammates and leave!"

Hari took to the trees and headed to the tornado of crimson chakra.

-ooo-

Naruto stood hunchbacked on the branch as his features grew more animalistic. His hair grew long enough for his headband to come lose, his nails grew into claws and his teeth grew into fangs. Tucking the Kumogakure headband in his pouch, he cracked his neck and clenched his fists. Ten minutes, that was all he could allow himself before he would lose control. At top form he could have pulled at least twenty in his initial jinchūriki mode, ten with one tail and less than five with two tails but even now in his initial jinchūriki mode he had a hard time to manage focus. Ten minutes would have to do.

"Kukuku… how interesting," Orochimaru said as though he was a specimen. "Once I have dealt with you, I'll make sure to take you with me. A fine specimen indeed. I wonder what I will find when I dissect you, Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto moved faster than most shinobi could without the use of Shunshin. In fact, he was a blur as he speedily moved towards his opponent. Before Orochimaru could register it, Naruto stood before him, unmoving as though daring him to make a move. The Snake Sannin shot a few snakes out of his sleeves. His eyed when he had apparently missed. In actual fact Naruto had moved out of the way and moved back in front of the Sannin in a split second.

Orochimaru raised his arm just in time to block a sudden kick. It carried enough impact to render his right arm trembling uncontrollably. The serpent summoner lashed out with his sword-brandishing tongue, regurgitating the blade in an instant. His downward slash was put to a halt as Naruto gripped onto the sword with one hand and shot forward with his neck, head butting the Sannin. Orochimaru stumbled ever so slightly but retaliated with a venomous spatter. His muddy-green saliva corroded the boy's skin and clothes, leaving him in a howling mess as he covered his eyes.

The Sannin grabbed him by the back of the neck and kneed him twice in the face and followed up with bone crushing smash on the back. Naruto fell down face first with a pained growl, however he was quick to react and swiped at the Sannin's feet. Orochimaru distanced himself and withdrew his blade to clash with him once again. The Kusanagi clashed with Naruto's iron hard claws, resulting in a stalemate Orochimaru happily made use of to mock the jinchūriki_._

"Such a fine specimen, indeed!" Orochimaru's neck shot forward and his mouth opened as wide his enormous serpent summons, his fangs dripped with saliva as he bit Naruto in the shoulder.

Naruto screamed, letting his stance falter. A move Orochimaru immediately took advantage of by driving his Kusanagi down the youngster's chest.

As the boy stumbled, dropping to his knee, Orochimaru's tongue wrapped itself around his neck tightly and suspended him a feet of above the floor.

"Urk!" Naruto gasped for air as the tongue constricted tightly and deprived him of air. Gasping for air the blonde kicked wildly, sinking his finger tips into the squishy flesh to no avail. 'Can't… breathe…'

Orochimaru deliberately went through a string of hand seals slowly and snarled wickedly as Naruto's eyes widened in shock. Purple fire surrounded Orochimaru's fingertips on his right-hand with kanji for 'metal', 'wood', 'water', 'fire' and 'earth'. Few people in the world knew of this Fūinjutsu, including Kirabi and Naruto, the latter of which had felt its effects more than he had ever wanted.

In one final desperate move, Naruto lashed out with his leg with all his might and landed a solid kick in the side of Orochimaru's head but it was futile. The attack merely prompted Orochimaru to tighten his tongue around Naruto's neck.

With a wicked grin Orochimaru reared back his arm and slammed down on Naruto's bare chest. "Gogyō Fūin!"

A blood-curdling scream emitted from Naruto as he arched and convulsed violently. The sensation going through his body caused him such pain he had only felt a few times before in his life. The Gogyō Fūin was a particularly nasty jutsu that not only sealed one's chakra away; it temporarily overloaded the chakra coils with the foreign chakra needed to perform the jutsu. Essentially, it was like taking a hammer to every nerve in the body or taking a bath in lava. As soon as Orochimaru's fingertips touched Naruto's skin, so much of his _foul _chakra crashed into Naruto's tenketsu system like a tsunami of incredible magnitude.

Had Naruto been lucid of thought, he would have noted Orochimaru's chakra was so _foul_ it caused such imaginable pain, far more than when Kirabi used the jutsu, as he had done occasionally over the years during his jinchūriki training. Naruto would likely hypothesized the reason why it was far more painful by the Sannin's hands was because Orochimaru posses a dark, and foul chakra that was the complete opposite of that of his own, which was pure if Karin was right.

'So much for ten minutes' was the last coherent thought that went through Naruto's mind as his eyes rolled back into his skull and he blissfully embraced unconsciousness.

-ooo-

(Other Side of the Forest)

"Shikamaru why are we headed for those_ enormous_ chakra signatures?" Ino demanded as they ran in a triangle formation towards the tornado of crimson chakra roughly half a mile away. Ino had no idea what Shikamaru was doing, what he was_ thinking_ by leading them towards the clash of titans.

The shadow user gritted his teeth and frowned. "We first felt a strong chakra we hadn't felt before, then we felt Naruto's and now we're feeling another. I got the feeling Naruto's flaring his chakra as a signal to everyone else in the forest to stay away."

"Then, why are we going towards the signatures?" Ino demanded with frustration. She absolutely hated when Shikamaru got so damn vague with her. Of course Chōji didn't mind because he was just some fat simpleton content with following as long as he could eat. Ino needed more than that to simply rush into danger.

"We owe him," Shikamaru told his teammates. "He could have killed us back there and he didn't because of our past friendship. We're going to repay that debt now if we can, if it's too late we'll do our best to notify whoever needs to be notified."

"Damn it, Shikamaru, if Naruto can't stop whoever he's fighting, why would we go there?"

"Stop it, Ino!" Chōji commanded uncharacteristically. "Naruto was our friend and he spared us because of that. I won't let him die when we haven't repaid our debt to him!" Chōji being an Akimichi was honour bound in his conduct.

"Besides," Shikamaru added, "Can't you feel Sasuke's signature? It's significantly smaller but I can feel him."

"Y- you're right!" Ino's eyes widened. "You think he's attacking Sasuke? Remember how he was asking about him the first day he came back?"

"Who, Naruto?" Shikamaru asked rhetorically. "Of course not. He's not that kind of guy… I think."

-ooo-

(With Orochimaru)

Orochimaru loomed over the unconscious form of Uzumaki Naruto and snarled. 'This is where you die, Uzumaki Naruto.' A pair white-scaled cobra emerged from Orochimaru's sleeves widened their mouth and brought forth a canon like appendage from the depths of their throats.

Initially he had planned to keep the boy's corpse for scientific purposes but he knew better than kidnapping _Kumo's_ jinchūriki for many reasons. The most obvious one would be the people he would offend by depriving Kumo of another weapon. Those he held an ear and favour with within the council would likely drop their support for him and support the motions of sending a taskforce to retrieve the jinchūriki. Then there was another likely – no, guaranteed consequence of killing the protégé of Yotsuki Kirabi, the jinchūriki of the Hachibi and one of the very few shinobi Orochimaru would go out of his way to avoid. Orochimaru very much doubted he could defeat the Hachibi, not at this stage of his disease. He would first need to obtain a new body, a stronger body: the body of Uchiha Sasuke. Then he would have to obtain all jutsu with the Uchiha sight and become the Ultimate Being.

'Yes,' Orochimaru decided. 'My allies in Kumo could not possible fault me for killing the beast. If I simply steal the Kyūbi they will come for me with a great vengeance. Killing this creature will have far less repercussions.'

The serpent summoner distanced himself from the unconscious jinchūriki; the cobra's rested their heads on his shoulders. A second later a gush of green fluid gushed out of the canon-like appendages. As the acid neared the genin another voice called out.

"Mizurappa!"

A gush of water rushed before Naruto, shielding him from the acidic saliva. A second later a new genin with brown hair and dressed in a kimono robe crouched next to Naruto and grabbed onto him and carried of higher into the trees.

Orochimaru merely raised an eyebrow. Where _did_ these cockroaches come from?

-ooo-

Naruto groaned as he regained consciousness. "Hari? Get out of here…"

"Stay awake, Naruto!" Hari continued his pace, willing himself not to look back. The only reason Orochimaru hadn't caught them yet was because the serpent liked to play with his food. Hari prayed he could exploit that particular habit to escape. S-ranked shinobi were notorious for their god-complexes and quite a few tales went around depicting their death having being a result of arrogance, not weakness. Hopefully Orochimaru would meet the same fate one day.

Naruto felt numbness take him. The Kusanagi must have been poisoned. "I'm going to go two tails on him, Hari." There was no other way he told himself. As fast as Hari was going by the use of chakra, he didn't need to have to be a sensory ninja to know Orochimaru was right behind him. "Find Yugito and leave."

"Shut up!" Hari told him through gritted teeth. His back was soaked already with the amount of blood Naruto had bled over him. Hari hadn't taken a look at the wound yet but judging from the amount of blood he had caught on him in the span of one minute, he knew it was bad. "We need to stop the bleeding quick."

Naruto moved suddenly and ignored the jolts of pain to shift his body. "Where's Yugito?" There was desperation and profound worry in voice. "She's still back there."

"I don't know Naruto- hey!" Hari nearly plummeted midair as Naruto jumped of his back. "What the fuck do you think you're doing, Naruto? I'm sure Yugito's safe, otherwise… we'd just know, okay?"

"Shut up!" Naruto shouted at him. He leaned against a tree, kneeling on a thick branch as blood continued to _pour_ out of his body. "Yugito's still back there," he repeated through gritted teeth. "We're not leaving without her, Hari. I'd rather die than leave her on her own." The pain came back with a vengeance and Naruto struggled move his legs. His entire body was shaking uncontrollably. He could probably be knocked with a flick of a finger at this point.

Hari glared at him. "I know that, which is why we're going to stop the bleeding before we go back there. What's the point if we go back now and you collapse? We'll have to carry you while that snake bastard is on to us. Is that what you want?"

Naruto's retort died in his throat as he turned around to face a giant purple viper ridden by Orochimaru.

"I grow tired of this cat-and-mouse game, jinchūriki_._ We'll have to finish this here and now," Orochimaru announced with a twisted smile as the viper reared back its enormous head. "Goodbye, Uzumaki Naruto!" The snake launched forward instantly with its fangs wide open to devour the genin.

"Naruto!" Hari shot forward to protect Naruto, withdrawing his new chikutō and set it alight on pure instinct. Naruto wasn't moving to protect himself, so Hari convinced he would. "Kenbu Ōgi! Joen-Ryū no Ken!" The next three seconds went almost in slow motion.

One: as the chikutō glowed blue with chakra Hari set himself in a stance.

Two: Hari raised his blade as it glowed white.

Three: by the time the blade was covered in a thick pillar of fire from the hilt up, Hari shouted as loud as he could, as if shouting to the heavens.

"ZANGEKI!"

A pillar of fire slashed towards the serpent and met it head on, resulting in an powerful explosion that launched Naruto and his teammate hurtling through the tree tops, skidding of branches and bouncing off trees in their flight before they painfully came to stop with a twelve foot fall.

Naruto's eyes fluttered briefly as he looked into yellow slit eyes.

The world went dark.

* * *

**_Author's Note_**

Wazzaa?

Not a whole lot to say other than the usual: please review. Negative or positive doesn't matter as long as you express in a none-douchebaggery way. The last chapter was ridiculously long, at sixteen thousand words in total. Yeah, I know right? I kept this chapter short, since the long chapters never seem to get a lot of reviews which make me depressed and want to strangle puppies... not really; I'm just crazy like that.

…

**Jutsu Used:**

_(Jutsu: Sen'eijashu – Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!) - C rank, offensive, short range. This jutsu allows the user to eject snakes from their wrist or sleeve, usually after a punching motion. The snakes are used primarily to attack from a distance and, being snakes, can inflict multiple poisonous wounds on the victim's body or hold them in place._

_(Jutsu: Uchiha Honoo Ōgi! Jōka – Uchiha Fire Secret! Sacred Fire!) – A ranked, offensive, long range. A coveted fire ninjutsu developed by the founders of the Uchiha clan that calls forth on the Uchiha's natural high affinity to fire to create a sacred fire that burns hotter than any other ordinary flame. Amongst others, this one of the jutsu Sasuke discovered in the Uchiha clan's hidden shrine located underground shortly after Uchiha Itachi's defection. Not much is known about this jutsu as of yet other than it is highly dangerous._

_(Jutsu: Ninjutsu Fūshi Hōin! – Ninjutsu Sealing Method!) - B ranked, supplementary, all ranges. An Fūinjutsu developed by Naruto in the months of preparation for the Chūnin Exam. This seal's set up requires the user to 'program' a pre-set path of manipulating chakra that has been stored within the seal. _

_(Jutsu: Kenbu Ōgi! Jōuen-Ryū no Ken – Secret Sword Dance! Flaming Desires of the Blade Style!) - ? rank, offensive, short range. Hari's never before seen sword dance he developed secretly for months without his teammates knowing. As of yet, nothing is known of the technique or its derived jutsu, other than Hari channels his Katon chakra through the blade to set it alight. **Derived jutsu:** Zangeki (Slashing Attack)._

_(Jutsu: Zangeki – Slashing Attack!) - ? rank, offensive, short to mid range. The first jutsu Hari developed that derives from his original Jouen no Ken kenjutsu style. Upon lighting the blade with flames, Hari will perform the Zangeki in either a vertical or horizontal or even a combination of slashes to expel fire pillars. **Parent jutsu:** Kenbu Ōgi! Jōuen-Ryū no Ken (Secret Sword Dance! Flaming Desires of the Blade Style)._

_ (Jutsu: Shippū Shūren! Dai Giri – Hurricane Drill! Great Slash!) - B rank, offensive, short to mid range. This jutsu is derived from Naruto´s Shippū Shūren and was made up on the spot. Naruto will channel additional chakra into his Shippū Shūren to temporarily increase its length and sharpness tremendously for a swift cut. **Parent jutsu:** Fūton: Shippū Shūren (Hurricane Drill)._


	22. Ants & Dragons Part II

**Kumogakure Ninja**

Posted: 19-04-11

Updated: 28-06-11

* * *

CH22: Ants & Dragons Part II

* * *

(Forest of Death)

In the Forest of Death standing in a newly created clearing surrounded by softly flicker flames Orochimaru loomed over the unconscious forms of the Kumogakure genin. The Snake Sannin gripped the legendary sword Kusanagi loosely in his hand as he eyed the teenagers, tilting his head as if wondering how he would kill them. "Quite a pair," Orochimaru mused out loud. The young jinchūriki had surprised him with his resilience and power and remarkable control of himself.

The Sannin smiled, a sinister idea coming to mind. "Shippū Shūren."

Wind picked up around the Sannin's arm and quickly formed into a rather wickedly looking form of the Hurricane Drill the jinchūriki made us of. 'For a youngster to have such mastery over this technique. Quite impressive.' Orochimaru raised the Kusanagi enchased in wind.

To kill the boy with his own technique, how… _fitting._

"You are too much of a threat, Kyūbi. Don't you worry; I will make good use of you back in my laboratory." Orochimaru held up the _jinchūriki_ by his collar and took in his unconscious form for a moment. 'So young yet so powerful. Kumogakure would make a true monster out of you with a few more years… it would have been interesting to face you. But… if I allowed you to live, there would undoubtedly be a day you would come for revenge and I can't have that, now can I?" Orochimaru smirked ominously. 'If those Akatsuki pests come for my head with a greater vengeance so be it.'

A swift movement later, Orochimaru made a stabbing movement with his Shippū Shūren encased Kusanagi and ploughed it through the unmoving genin's chest.

_Fffszzht!_

The jinchūriki arched and convulsed under his grip for only a moment; flailed his arms uncontrollably before he was dropped face-first into the dirt, blood oozing out a gaping hole in his chest.

Blood stained Orochimaru's garb but the Sannin paid it no heed.

Uzumaki Naruto moved no more.

The deed done, Orochimaru's eyes rested on the brown-haired genin that had fought alongside the Kyūbi's container. The youngster had wielded a chikutō, no doubt taken of Uchiha Sasuke, and made us of its chakra tempered steel to use a rather impressive kenjutsu style. Orochimaru would have sought after the technique, perhaps, if it ever came to completion. The serpent was tempted to place his Curse Seals on the Kumo genin but decided against it. He had come for only one genin and the Cursed Seals took a lot out of him.

"Such a waste of a fine kenjutsu," Orochimaru drawled as he turned to Hari. The Sannin cancelled the Hurricane Drill and gripped the Kusanagi in a reversed grip for easy impalement. "Unfortunately we will never see it come to completion."

In an instant many things happened.

As Orochimaru moved to impale the fallen genin, the earth under his feet formed into locks around his ankles, firmly immobilizing him as Naruto and Hari sunk through the earth. A split second later Orochimaru was forced to move his blade to deflect a bolt of lightning. Before he could move his arm, ninja wire wrapped itself around his limb to immobilize him. Two young genin appeared from both sides and simultaneously brought their blades down in a decapitating swipe of their blade.

"Kumo-Ryū! Kakū Kibukiri Giri!"

Orochimaru swiftly retracted himself in a fluid motion only a serpent could be capable of. The snake summoner sliced towards his right with such power he broke the ninja wire with ease. Hearing a feminine as he drew blood, Orochimaru extended his neck out of his garb, his eyes flickered around him.

Two genin teams from Kumogakure had joined the fray. The most prominent out of the two was the team of sixteen year old genin. Judging from the emblem the tallest of the senior genin team, Orochimaru knew he had run into a Saito. The Saito spotted an eye-patch fashioned out of strips of gauze and medical tape over his left eye; the genin his right standing in a hunched back manner was no doubt the Doton specialist as he still had his fingers entangled to form the serpent hand seal; the medium for earth ninjutsu. The other team was rather unimpressive, likely fresh out of the academy the Sannin assumed judging by their youthful appearances. No matter, they were no challenge for him. He _highly_ doubted they had anything they could throw at him that would scratch him.

"Kukuku, what do we have here?" Orchimaru's tongue flicked before him excitedly. "Little over a handful genin are to face me? You… Saito, you know who I am do you not? Yes, those horrified expressions… you all know you are facing an enemy that far surpassed anything you have ever encountered." Orochimaru allowed a moment for the fear to set in. He had hoped to avoid killing any Kumo genin in particular as it was the only village of the Great Five that he had not wronged. Their council had been amiable to say the least. Well… some of them had. Those that did had taken care of those insufferable Akumu Shokō that had stolen his plans to retrieve two legendary blades. It no longer mattered now… those blades had become useless; weakened by time to the point it would take considerable resources to restore them.

Orochimaru almost shook his head, realizing he had gone off track. "Stand aside and leave or I will kill you."

Kenji gripped the hilt in his hands tightly. "We will not, Orochimaru of the Sannin. I know we have no way of defeating you, but do you really want to anger Kumogakure?" Kenji called out to the other genin. "Tokashiji, Nobori, get out of the way." As the genin hurried to the side, Kenji turned to Kenichi and nodded. "Do it."

Tomaro Kenichi grumbled, "This is harder than it looks," and entangled his fingers into a serpent hand seal. "Doton! Tsuchi Engai!" The earth around Orochimaru sprang to the sky, reaching ten feet in height as it mashed together and formed a dome above the Snake Sannin whom merely smiled sinisterly, seemingly content with letting it happen. Kenji held up a fist, calling all the genin to him and reached for his explosive tags. "Now, Kenichi!" The Earth Dome's textured shifted and created tiny slits in the earth, openings the genin used as they hailed a storm of kunai with explosive tags tagged to them.

_BOOM! _

Following an earth shattering explosion, rubble propelled in all directions; chunks of earth in all shapes and forms lodging in the environment as a humongous serpent came forward. Orochimaru cackled in amusement, spreading his arms in a grand gesture. "Impressive use of tactics, but not good enough," the Sannin voiced. "I have no desire to stain my hands with the blood of Kumogakure's genin. I will say it only once more, step aside and leave. None of you are a threat, not by any stretch of the mind."

"We'll see about that," Kenji said with false bravado, reaching for his sword hilt. A cry alerted Kenji, prompting him to look over his shoulder to Taiko. His eyes widened at the sight of the kunoichi propping up a bloody, pale-skinned Naruto.

"Naruto!" Taiko sounded almost hysterically; she was covered in the blonde's blood. "Ken- Kenji he's- look at him! He's _dying!_"

It was too late. The gaping hole in his chest was barely visible as the blood oozed out of him. Naruto's usually tanned skin tone was now incredibly pale. It was as if he was teetering on the edge of life and death. Kenji clenched his fists so tightly he dug his nails in the palms of his hands deep enough to draw blood. Without medical treatment the blonde would soon succumb to his wounds and die.

"Kenji!"

Kenji called out to the genin of team Hitaro, "You guys, thank you for help but we've got it from here. Get out of here and call for help… take Taiko and Hari with you," Kenji added almost as an afterthought. If he was going to die here, the least he could do was make sure those two could get away. As harsh as it sounded, Naruto would die soon regardless of what they did. In other words: the blonde was deadweight they could not take with them. "GO! Kenichi and I will hold him off!"

"No way…" Miyabi almost whispered, dropping the blood-stained ninja wire in her injured hand. The pathetic, bloody mess that was Naruto had no resemblance to the usual vibrant and lively genin she knew in her academy days. "H- Hari!" Miyabi rushed forward, seeing the unconscious form of Hari lying next to Taiko. "Hari!"

Tokashiji jumped in front of Miyabi and restrained her. "Miyabi we need to go." Every fibre in his body screamed in outrage but the genin knew he would only get in the way in a fight against an S-ranked shinobi. Hell, he doubted even Kenji and Kenichi combined stood a chance but he wasn't going to hurt their chances ever further. "Nobori, let's go!"

Whilst team Hitaro retreated, Kenji turned to his best friend and slapped him on the shoulder. "Kenichi, what I'm going to ask you next… it's not something I-" Kenji paused momentarily, "I need you to stay with me to hold off Orochimaru."

Kenichi placed a hand on Kenji's shoulder. "Don't sweat it. We'll pull through," Kenji smiled wryly, "We always seem to, somehow." His smile hid his solemn awareness of what he was committing himself to. Orochimaru of the Sannin was no pushover by any means for _other_ S-ranked ninja. A handful genin would have as much chance of winning as Hell freezing over on the same day.

"Taiko get out of here!" Kenji bellowed at the straggling kunoichi. He knew she was stalling by lying down Naruto delicately (Nobori had taken Hari). "I love you too, now go!" That seemed to do it as Taiko nodded, blinking away the tears as she set off after team Hitaro.

"Damn that thing is huge…" Kenichi whistled as he eyed the giant snake summon Orochimaru was riding. The Snake Sannin was rather patient with them; perhaps he wanted to see what else Kumo's next generation had in store.

"We need to hold him off for a minute or two, that's all I'm asking for," Kenji said as he unsheathed his prized possession: a chakra tempered katana with the clan coat of arms embedded on the hilt. "After that, feel free to run. I'm staying here till the end." Kenichi punched him rather hard in the shoulder. "Ouch, what was that for?"

"Don't be stupid, Kenji. I'm staying here with you and we're going to see this through to the end," Kenichi grinned, "Besides, I wouldn't trust myself around Taiko-chan."

The best friends looked at each other and then turned to Orochimaru. "Let's go!" They shouted simultaneously as they rushed forward. As they neared the snake summoner, Orochimaru reared back the serpent for a biting attack. The snake hissed and went to bite the genin as Kenji charged forward; Kenichi fell back to form another earth jutsu when a sudden flash of lightning struck giant summon under its head where the scales were considerably softer.

_BOOM!_

'What the-!' Kenji propelled backwards with the sudden impact of a thick lightning wave that pierced through the summon's skull, killing it instantly; forcing Orochimaru to attach himself to another tree only to have to dodge an ball of lightning that ploughed through the thick bark effortlessly.

Orochimaru flipped midair and blocked clenched fist with the flat side of his Kusanagi. "Oh my, I thought I gotten rid of you already, Nibi." The remark clearly intensified Yugito's anger as she called forth the Nibi's chakra and overpowered the Sannin; pushed him back with enough force to launch him into a branch. Orochimaru was clearly unaffected by the impact, his thick scales protected him from brutish attacks.

"What have you done to my teammates?" Yugito growled, stuck to an opposite tree of Orochimaru. Her eyes were shifting into dark, light blue and black slits and glowed eerily.

"Yugito!" Kenji shouted to her.

The kunoichi did not take her eyes of Orochimaru. "Kenji, Kenichi, get out of here." Now was not the time to be respectful of her seniors. Neither of them would stand a chance against the Sannin and they would simply get in the way of her destructive chakra. "Find Naruto and Hari."

"Naruto's… in bad shape Yugito."

Yugito, despite having prepared not to take her eyes of Orochimaru, turned to look at Kenichi and her eyes widened at the sight of a seemingly dead Naruto. "What do you- N- NO!" Yugito screamed at the top of her lungs. For an instant she forgot who she was facing as tears welled up and began flowing down her cheeks. "Naruto!" Yugito dropped her guard and went to move towards Naruto, ignorant of Orochimaru's satisfied smirk.

Seeing an opening, Orochimaru took it and launched himself towards her with his sword-brandishing tongue. "Don't you worry, you'll be joining him soon enough!" The Sannin was about to bring down the Kusanagi on the distraught kunoichi when Kenji intercepted his blade midair and tried to push him back.

_Clang!_

Orochimaru swiftly pushed back the genin with a mere stroke of his blade and raised his left arm towards Yugito. Calling forth snakes, the serpents sprang out of his sleeve and flew towards Yugito was simply too distracted and distraught with the apparent death of her teammate, her senses were dulled to the point she had become easy pickings. Orochimaru smirked with satisfaction, sure of a clear kill when a gush of fire swept over his serpents and killed them.

"Chidori Senbon!" The barrage of lightning bolts missed narrowly as Uchiha Sasuke appeared to Orochimaru's side and stabbed at him with his sword-brandishing hand. The Sannin coiled effortlessly and settled on the ground, twenty feet below the genin perched in trees.

"Uchiha Sasuke…" Orochimaru called out to him. "Gotten over your fear, have you?" the Sannin mocked.

Sasuke gripped his spare chikutō and charged with chakra, coating it with his Raiton chakra and jumped out of the tree, directly at Orochimaru. "Stop!" Kenji shouted at him, to no avail and so the Saito Clan member followed suit, coating his own blade with regular chakra to increase its sharpness. The duo engaged the Sannin in a two-to-one duel but were still hard-pressed; the serpent simply moved in fluid movements to avoid their thrusts and cuts and returned vigorously in kind. The duel gradually gained speed and ferociousness as Sasuke's Sharingan spun wildly with aggression and Kenji attempted to shield openings Sasuke left for Orochimaru. It became blatantly obvious the two were not meant to work together as Kenji's Saito-Ryū and Sasuke's unknown style were incompatible to the point they both suffered needless injuries. All the while Kenichi was incapable of aiding them as his earth jutsu could not isolate their target in close quarters.

Meanwhile Yugito dashed across the tree and channeled enough chakra to her legs to jumped roughly sixty feet in the air and land beside Naruto. Upon touching down, she rolled over her shoulder and hurried over to him. He was laid on his back, unmoving and covered by deep cuts, brushes and gashes. Yugito's heart skipped a beat upon expecting the _gaping hole_ in his chest. "No… Naruto!" Yugito propped him up and embraced her unconscious teammate, checking to see whether he was breathing.

Yugito's breath hitched… he wasn't breathing, or so it appeared. His breathing was slow and shallow, almost inaudible. "Come on, Naruto," Yugito shook him worriedly, tearing welling up. "Naruto, wake up." Her voice was now barely a whisper. Naruto remained perfectly still, unmoving and unresponsive. "Naruto," Yugito whispered with desperation. Why wasn't he responding? Why wasn't he healing like he should be? What the _fuck_ was the Kyūbi doing? 'I need to get you out of here.' Yugito went to shift his weight so she could carry Naruto when suddenly a hand gripped tightly onto hers.

"R- run…"

Yugito's eyes widened looking down, meeting Naruto's barely open eyes. "Naruto?" She whispered. How he had regained his consciousness didn't matter at that moment, what mattered was to get him to safety and find Hari. "Save your strength, Naruto. I'm going to get you out of here."

Naruto merely shook his head. "I'll only sl- slow you down, Yu- Yugito," he managed through painful blood coughing. "Get out of he- here…" Naruto groaned in excruciating pain. Even breathing was completely taking it out of him. He didn't need to look down to know he had a gaping hole in his chest. 'Looks like the Kyūbi can't save me this time…'

"Shut up!" Yugito said forcibly. "I'm not going to leave you behind here. I won't abandon you, I'll rather die here… with you. As I know you would do for me," she uttered the last of it in another whisper, knowing full well had the roles been reversed Naruto would have never abandoned her. "Come on, let's get you-" Yugito nearly recoiled as Naruto placed a hand on her stomach and traced his fingers over her scar.

"How did you get that scar, Yugito?" Naruto wheezed out. "You need to get out of here, you can't possible sur- survive against this guy. He's on a whole other league," Naruto rested his hand on her S-shaped scar. It was a newfound intimacy between them. They had never been this close aside from that kiss… "Listen, Yugito. I want you to know… when I kissed you, it wasn't be- because of the reasons you th- thought they were." Naruto's hand trailed upwards and cupped her cheek and he smiled in the same goofy way he always did. "I really en- enjoyed kissing you. I'm sorry I didn't tell you this earl- earlier."

Yugito froze in her movements for a moment. The way he was looking at her, the way his eyes were looking far beyond hers… as if they were looking right into her heart, her very soul. _He was saying goodbye._ "Na- Naruto, you need to conserve your strength. And you're _not_ going to die here," she added, gently cupping his cheek to comfort him.

An explosion caught their attention. By the looks of it, and to Yugito's tremendous relief, more genin teams had gathered and were joining the fray. One of the genin she recognized as Chōji had expanded his arm to the size of a tree and was brandishing an actual tree and swinging it towards Orochimaru who summoned three large cobras. Yugito looked over to her right and with another grand sense of relief teams of Kumogakure; team Shikūyo, a team of Kenji's year, and team Kodama, another genin team of their year. Yugito could hear Kenji shout at them in frustration, telling them to leave as Orochimaru became increasingly aggressive.

The ants were uniting to slay the dragon.

Yugito had never been quite this relieved. Genin from all over the forest, from all different villages, were heading their way and were all targeting Orochimaru. Being an internationally despised S-ranked criminal, Orochimaru had made himself countless enemies and now genin from different villages were joining the attack. Yugito's attention was caught my movement to her left as a lone figure, a kunoichi their age, was coming their way at an breakneck speed. Yugito reached for a kunai but was stopped in her tracks by Naruto, to her great surprise, who weakly held onto her wrist and nodded reassuringly. Even in near death his nose was still as sharp.

Upon coming close enough Yugito spotted the Kusa headband and the familiar features of Karin, the Grass kunoichi Naruto had saved from her former allies. "What are you doing here?" Yugito gripped onto the kunai anyway. "Answer me! I asked what you were doing here!"

Karin ran towards her, narrowly avoiding the kunai that soared past her and cut of a good chunk of her bangs. "I'm here to save Naruto-sama!" Karin slid over the ground, completely setting herself in a vulnerable position; indicating Yugito could kill her if she wanted to. "I can save him!"

Yugito narrowed her eyes. "Are you a medical ninja? I don't see any tools on you," she pointed out, pulling Naruto's body closer to her. "How can you possibly save him?"

"I'm not a medic but I have this!" Karin pulled down the zipper on her flack and unbuttoned her blouse, giving Yugito a full frontal view of her mauled body. "He simply needs to bite me and suck the healing chakra. It's a special technique passed down in Kusagakure to only a few. I was lucky to be one because of my perfect chakra control."

Yugito then quickly remembered what she had told them when she tried to convince Naruto to take her.

_"Take me with you. I can be of use!"_

_"We already have a sensory ninja." _

_"I can cook!"_

_"So can we."_

_"I- I got another special ability! If you bite me in my neck or chest, you can suck healing chakra!"_

'She can heal people by letting them bite her...' Yugito looked down to Naruto and he nodded weakly to her. "… If you make one suspicious movement, if make him so much as wince… I'll kill you. Slowly." The threat was by no means an idle one and from her sudden spike of killing intent and the way Karin reacted to it through stammering and cold sweat, she knew the kunoichi knew she was serious.

"I- I promise you, Naruto-sama will be perfectly… after… this…" Karin leaned into Naruto and moaned as he bit into her.

Sure enough, green chakra (similar to what Hari used Yugito noted) began flowing out her and into Naruto. The blonde groaned as the skin tissue around his wound began to grow and the blood stopped flowing. Yugito watched wide eyes as the wound began to close and colour returned to Naruto's skin. However, as Naruto's wound closed Karin abruptly collapsed on top of him, drained out from chakra. Naruto grunted painfully under the weight off her but wrapped his around her and hugged her. "Thank you," he whispered to her but shoving her off him as gently as he could.

"Na- Naruto, don't move. You're still injured," Yugito straightened Karin out on the floor and then walked over to Naruto to keep him on his feet. "Here, let me help you."

"Yugito," Naruto caught her hands and held him in his own. "I'm going to finish what I started… You go find Hari, and take her with you." Naruto anticipated her protest and gripped onto her hands and pulled closer. "You already nearly died for me and scarred yourself in the process," Naruto whispered into her ear, placing his right hand on her hip and tracing his fingers of her smooth skin, noting how the scar felt like leather compared to the rest of her silky smooth skin. "Now I'm going to repay all those guys there that came to help us."

"Naruto… please don't." Yugito stepped in closer to him, allowing herself to be embraced by Naruto. "You're planning on using the Kyūbi… aren't you?"

Naruto didn't answer her and instead cupped her chin and made her look him in the eye. _And then he kissed her._

It was soft and innocent but it bared more emotion than he could ever relay to her in words. Yugito leaned and craned her neck as she deepened the kiss to show him she understood. The kiss ended as abruptly and it started.

"Don't you die," Yugito said upon breaking their lip lock. "Whatever you do… just don't die."

"I won't," Naruto smiled at her. He couldn't tell her he couldn't use the Kyūbi even if he wanted to. "Now go."

Yugito pressed one more kiss to his lips and then turned to Karin. "I need you to trace our teammate. Can you remember what his chakra felt like?"

"Yes, of course. I never forget how a chakra signature feels," Karin said rather haughtily. She wasn't quite pleased Yugito had just kissed her crush but she would not falter right now. "His chakra felt strange. Gentle but in a cold way. As if he's harbouring a lot of anger."

Yugito narrowed her eyes dangerously. "You can explain that on the way. Let's go."

-ooo-

Naruto looked for a moment as they ran off to find Hari and then turned to battle going on a hundred yards or so away from them. 'I need to get rid of the Gogyō Fūin that snake bastard put on me,' Naruto thought.

The question was how and the answer was far from easy. The Gogyō Fūin was a particularly nasty piece of Fūinjutsu that disturbed the flow of chakra through tenketsu. Naruto could still feel the searing pain of Orochimaru's foul chakra flowing attacking his chakra coils. The only way to get rid of the Gogyō Fūin's chakra interference was by using its countering jutsu, the Gogyō Kaiin. The problem with this was that the technique not only required a lot of chakra but also a lot of chakra manipulation skill. Seeing as he now had neither, Naruto was in a tough bind.

'There is one option,' a voice in the back of Naruto's mind said.

Naruto swallowed thickly and nodded and reached inside one of his four large pouches attached to his utility belt. Even unsealing the brush, ink and mirror took significant effort with what little chakra he could concentrate. Naruto gritted his teeth, 'This is really a bitch!'

An explosion nearby alerted the blonde. 'No time to be bitching, Uzumaki. Focus and get this bastardly seal of you!' Naruto had pulled the remains of his tattered shirt over his head earlier, leaving him in his black shinobi, ANBU-styled trousers and sat on his knees, holding the mirror in front of him.

Naruto willed himself to focus on the design of the Gogyō Fūin. As expected the elements of steel, wood, water, fire and earth were present in a five-prong circle going clockwise. Due to its chakra interfering nature, Naruto's _other_ seal was now visible as well, thus making it significantly harder to tell them apart. Yet, Naruto was determined to do something about it. The Gogyō Fūin worked on the principle of closing off several tenketsu within the body's Chakra Pathway. This in effect would make it nearly impossible to mould chakra for a regular person but for a jinchūriki it was a much bigger problem because it would make the host's and tenant's chakra fight for dominance and completely obstruct even the tiniest of chakra manipulation.

Now here was the problem: because the seal prevented chakra circulation, moulding chakra or manipulating it any way would be difficult to say the least. Naruto however theorized a temporary solution and so quickly unfurled the scroll and dabbed his brush in ink and set himself on creating a replica Five Pronged Seal in counter-clockwise order. In theory, his chakra would flowing two directions now: clockwise and counter-clockwise. This would hopefully open up a few more tenketsu in his Chakra Pathways to draw more chakra. If it backfired, he would have even less open tenketsu which meant even less chakra to draw on and considering the chakra he could draw on now was not even close to genin level, it was a risk he did not easily take. Still, it was better than nothing. At this point he didn't have much to lose.

"Okay, here goes nothing." Naruto held up the scroll and pressed it to his abdomen and gathered as much chakra as he could. It wasn't a lot and he doubted he could form even a Bunshin with it but it was enough to perform the D-rank jutsu that drained the parchment of its ink and seeped it into Naruto's skin where it formed on top of the Gogyō Fūin. Blue fire seeped into his skin, momentarily grew out to cover his entire body and then retracted into a smaller circle around his naval.

Naruto released a breath he did not know he was holding. 'It worked… It actually worked!'

He could gradually feel more chakra flowing through his body, more of it slipping through the Gogyō Fūin and available for him to manipulate. It was a far cry of what he usually had to his disposal but it was enough. Not enough for prolonged battle but certainly for what he was planning. One attack was all he could afford.

An ear-splitting explosion alerted him once again.

_BOOM!_

The fight was still raging on and from what he could see it was going to end soon.

-ooo-

"What is your relationship to Naruto-sama?"

Yugito nearly slipped off the branch she stepped on but quickly regained her composure. "That's none of your business, Karin. Concentrate on finding Hari."

Karin abruptly stopped midair and set down on a branch and waited for Yugito to do the same. "Actually, it is my business. I see the way you look at him and I know you want to be with him."

"What does it matter to you?" Yugito said through gritted teeth, feeling rather impatient. "My friend- Naruto's friend too, may be in trouble. He won't ever forgive you if he finds out you jeopardized his safety."

That seemed to work. Karin promptly continued to lead the way with a disgruntled snort. "I love Uzumaki Naruto more than you do." There was no real point in saying it but she did nonetheless. "His aura is magnificent and _raw. So_ powerful. It's as profound as all the oceans combined and resilient as the mountains. Uzumaki Naruto is the man of my dreams."

Yugito bit back a snide remark, reminding herself she needed this crazy kunoichi to find Hari. "You don't even know him. How can you say you love him? How can you feel anything for him at all?" It irked Yugito to no end to hear Karin proclaim her love to Naruto without so much a hint of embarrassment.

"Are you asking me or are you asking yourself?"

Good question, but Yugito decided not to answer. "Earlier, you said something about my teammate Hari's chakra. You said it was cold." For the moment she decided to change the subject. If she didn't ask now, the question would haunt her forever.

"My chakra sensing abilities are different from any other sensor type shinobi I've heard off. It allows me to sense things other sensor type shinobi can't. Your friend… his chakra feels vaguely like Orochimaru-"

"What?" Yugito hissed with outrage.

"No, don't misunderstand," Karin quickly told her. "It's nowhere near as dark or _foul_ but it feels cold. Orochimaru's chakra is cold because he is full of anger. I don't feel the same evil in your teammate as I do in Orochimaru, but if I did it would have felt dark. Allow me to explain. Those that commit horrendous activities will sooner or later dabble in kinjutsu and this can affect their entire being, making their chakra feel odd. Out of place. _Foul _like Orochimaru's. Coldness and darkness are two separate things entirely and they depend on-"

"Get to the point," Yugito said dismissively. "Why does Hari have 'cold chakra'?"

"I was getting there... And I must say, you are rude and I don't-" Karin fell silent once she saw Yugito's death glare. Gulping nervously she hurriedly explained. "He's angry. Well, to be more accurate, he has a lot of anger within him which he hides behind a gentle exterior."

"Aha," was all Yugito could come up with. 'That can't be true, can it? Why would Hari be- of course, his father left his family with a lot of grievance when he was arrested.' Yugito clenched her fists, making a note to speak to Hari about this.

"Do you have any idea if something happened to your friend in the past that may have given him reason to hide anger?"

Yugito's eyes narrowed at the red-haired kunoichi. "No, I don't. How far is he from here?"

"Not very. Let's pick up the pace my rival for love."

"I'm not your rival!" Yugito snapped at her with a faint blush.

-ooo-

Orochimaru was fuming with anger. No, he was absolutely _furious_. His plans for infiltrating the Chūnin Exam and planting his Juinjutsu on Sasuke had intended to be a quick 'in-and-out' mission. He would kill no one, alert no one. Simply disappear in the forest and leave. By the time his presence had been found out, it would have been too late and Sasuke would be under his control.

No, instead he had been confronted by the blasted jinchūriki of Kumo, Uzumaki Naruto. The boy had foiled his plan and forced him through a series of events that ended up with him fighting against well over thirty genin. They were no match for him, surely they all knew that, but with their combined force they were formidable. This year's chūnin hopefuls certainly were talented. He had even spotted a few jutsu he knew were A-ranked jutsu and some more he had yet to encounter.

"Hakke Kūshō!"

Orochimaru backhanded the wave of energy with ease. 'How quaint, now a Hyūga had to fall in the mix. A branch house member no less,' Orochimaru snarled. Enough was enough, he had for too long indulged these genin. He could no longer afford to not attack indiscriminately. The ANBU operatives would surely be soon upon him and that was not something he could afford.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

_POOF!_

A burst of smoke of _enormous_ height and width was followed by a loud and deep serpentine hiss.

**"I have come to serve!"**

Orochimaru nestled on top of the largest serpent he had summoned so far. It was chrome and black python, easily over hundred feet in length and raised its head to sixty feet. The python was absolute magnificent and just screamed 'danger'. "Kurome, firstborn of Manda, I need your assistance."

**"What is this, Orochimaru of the Sannin fighting it out with some urchins? What are these, genin?"** Receiving no reply Kurome began to hiss with laughter.

"Know your place, Kurome," Orochimaru hissed with a spike of his ominous chakra, full killing intent focused upon the eldest son of Manda. "Your father and I have an understanding. Do not overstep your bounds again, whelp or I will kill you myself."

**"Very well, Orochimaru. I will aide you in this battle and I shall consume these genin as my payment of fifty souls. You may offer the deficit on a later date."**

"Perhaps," Orochimaru sneered. "Now, annihilate these fools that dared to face me. Kill all but the raven-haired child. He is mine to take."

**"As you will."**

The genin all looked up in absolute fear and terror. Many began to flee, fearful of their lives. Their unity and camaraderie no longer mattered. They had angered him and now they would pay for their arrogance. With their own blood.

**"I will annihilate all!"** Kurome left his enormous fangs open in preparation of his attack. Acidic fluid began to drop from his fangs into his mouth rapidly. Once he had enough, the serpent king's son reared back and spat a rain of acid. **"Sanseiu!" **

Orochimaru laughed darkly with a sense of deranged glee. The screams of pain and misery were like beautiful symphonies to his ears. 'Now, to get what I came for.' Orochimaru jumped of Kurome's head and slid down its scales towards his target.

Uchiha Sasuke saw him coming and went through a string of hand seals so fast Orochimaru could see the resemblance to Uchiha Itachi. "Katon! Ryūka no Jutsu!"

"Oh, Sasuke, you really need to do better than that!" Orochimaru shifted into his serpent form and abandoned his garbs as he took flight. His tough scales protected him from the heat of Sasuke's fire. "Now. You. Are. Mine!"

Orochimaru's fangs sank into the nape of Sasuke's neck. The boy screamed and convulsed, shaking uncontrollably as Orochimaru's foul chakra slithered through his body. The boy slumped into unconsciousness moments later. As he fell to the ground, Orochimaru smiled with satisfaction, counting three tomoes on the boy's shoulder.

Meanwhile the screams of horror still ensued as Kurome spat another acid wave, this time picking his targets deliberately. Orochimaru smiled wickedly. 'Yes, Manda's firstborn is a wicked one indeed. In time, perhaps, he will be my new familiar. Once he has eaten Manda, of course.'

As he dressed himself once again, Orochimaru's smile faltered as he saw the boy he had killed early climb up Kurome scales and launch himself into the air with an enormous air drill around his arm.

"No!"

_(Jutsu: Sanseiu – Acid Rain!)_

-ooo-

Naruto leapt into the air with the Shippū Shūren around his arm quickly growing longer, thicker and sharper.

**"What is this? Human you have made a grave mistake-"**

"DAI GIRI!"

With one powerful lunge, the enormous drill sank through the scales of Kurome and pierced his entire head. It was truly gruesome. Blood, flesh and shredded bone sprayed out of the serpent's cranium in a storm of gore like water out of a whale's blowhole as Naruto pushed the Shippū Shūren further down Kurome's skull. It became increasingly easier and within moments the snake was dead and fell forward with a foot wide hole between its eyes.

The enormous impact easily threw Naruto of its head and made him skid across the ground painfully. "Ugh, gross. Not going to do that again." Naruto wiped some meaty substance out of his hair that was most likely a portion of the now dead serpent's brains. Naruto would have vomited normally, but at the moment pain coursed through his body. His vision became blurred and shaky. His breathing was ragged and laboured. His entire body ached with pain and-

"You have crossed me for the last time, Kyūbi!"

Naruto attempted to make a serpent hand seal to raise an earth barrier but Orochimaru was too fast and launched himself at Naruto with such velocity the boy could hardly blink before he felt himself held up by an iron tight grip. Through the gaps of Orochimaru's hand he saw the enraged glint in the Sannin's yellow slit eyes.

"I don't know how you undid the Gogyō Fūin but you have crossed me for the last time. Now die!" Orochimaru regurgitated the Kusanagi and poised it, aimed for Naruto's heart.

Naruto knew this was it. The others had probably escaped by now. Orochimaru wouldn't bother to go after them. Naruto chuckled mirthlessly and raised his middle finger to the Sannin. "Fuck you."

Orochimaru gripped the Kusanagi tightly and plunged it through the boy, not once, but _four_ times.

The first plunge went through the boy's stomach.

The second in his right lung.

The third in his left lung.

The fourth and final stab was in the boy's heart.

"No one will save you now, boy. You will die alone as those you saved retreat without even thinking of looking back." Orochimaru cast the genin aside and dropped him in the dirt where he lay, drowning in his own blood and struggling to breathe.

Orochimaru moved to deliver the final blow when a new voice shouted in rage. The Sannin distanced himself from the Uzumaki boy, backpedalling fast enough to avoid a diagonal pillar of fire.

"ZANGEKI!"

Orochimaru growled darkly. 'Not this one again. These Kumo genin are far too persistent.' The Sannin scowled at Hari as Yugito and Karin joined him, standing behind the boy. "What is it with you blasted Kumo genin? Do you know not know who you are up against?"

"Shut the fuck up!" Hari shouted at him. "What kind of S-ranked ninja infiltrates the Chūnin Exam to fight a bunch of genin?" The brown-haired genin reached into his pouch and withdrew a container of soldier pills. It was nearly empty, save for two pills so he chugged it and cast it aside.

"Tche, it's your funeral, as they say." Orochimaru then saw something he hadn't ever encountered before. The red-haired kunoichi with the Kusa headband knelt down by Uzumaki and pulled down her shirt. As the boy bit into her flesh, green chakra emitted from her body and into the boy.

"Oh? The famed Kusagakure's Iyashu Kajiru. I can't have you save the Kyūbi from certain death, now can I?"

_(Jutsu: Iyashu Kajiru – Healing Bite!)_

Orochimaru saw he look up in shock and leapt forward predatorily. He moved at such speed Hari could only land a glancing blow with his Iaidō, and even that did not affect the Sannin for he had iron hard scales. Yugito attempted to put up some resistance and threw a Raiken towards him but he caught her wrist and snapped it like a twist. Her cry of pain was followed with a yelp as he threw over his shoulder.

"I'll be taking you now!" Orochimaru reared back his head, widening his mouth to a monstrous size rivaling his summons and struck out with his tongue. Karin screeched and kicked violently but her cries were fell silent as Orochimaru bit down and swallowed her whole.

"No, KARIN!" Yugito screamed desperately.

Hari attempted to dash towards the Sannin but fell to his face quickly. His body had been running solely on soldier pills and had reached its limits. There was nothing he could do but shout, "YOU MONSTER!"

Orochimaru's stomach bulged like a hot air balloon but only for a moment. As quick as it happened his body returned back to normal proportions. "Now then… This where you meet your end alongside with your teammate."

"I'll kill you!" Yugito screamed with fury. Tears ran down her cheeks, her shoulders shook uncontrollably and her visage slipped changed as she changed into her initial jinchūriki mode. "I'LL KILL YOU!"

Yugito charged forwards but stopped dead in her tracks. Orochimaru locked eyes with her the moment they turned slit and subdued her with a genjutsu. In her distraught and vulnerable (and depleted) state, she was an easy target.

"Now to finish you off-" Orochimaru closed his eyes with a smirk. "It appears we are no longer alone."

Jumping out of trees and emerging from the ground multiple ANBU operatives appeared, surrounding Orochimaru who merely held his arrogant sneer. An entire squad of ANBU operatives, twenty in number, reached for their weapons and slid into their stances, preparing to take the Sannin down.

"Well if isn't Konoha's finest."

One of the ANBU officers stepped forward and aimed a hand at Orochimaru. "Orochimaru of the Sannin, for your countless crimes against Konoha, you are hereby under arrest. Come quietly or we will use force. We have clearance to kill on sight, now come quietly. I will not ask again."

"I think not!" Orochimaru made a ram hand seal and bellowed a purple haze towards the ANBU officer. One of them shouted "Dokugiri! (Poison Mist)" upon which the other scattered. Orochimaru took the opportunity to escape, seemingly unfazed by the poisonous mist. The ANBU were quickly upon him and followed suit, leaving the Kumo genin team to deal with the poison on their own.

Yugito quickly acted once she saw the cloud enveloping Naruto and so channeled a good three-quarter of her remaining chakra into her jutsu. "Fūton! Daitoppa no Jutsu!"

The purple haze quickly disappeared; Yugito and Hari dashed to Naruto. "He's not breathing," Hari leaned in close by Naruto's nose. Snapping into his medic mode Hari spoke to Yugito with authority and assertiveness. "Yugito, I'm going to give him a heart massage. I haven't got enough chakra to use any of my techniques so you have to give him CPR. Do you understand?"

"Ye- yes!" Yugito parted Naruto's lips and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Okay, I g- got it."

"Count with me. One… two… three!"

Yugito took a deep breath and leaned in on Naruto, pressing her lips on his and blowing mind into his mound.

"Okay, good, now stay with me Yugito. One, two, three!" As they repeated the procedure multiple times, Hari could still not get a heartbeat. "Fucking come on! COME ON!" Hari began pushing with more force.

Yugito faltered momentarily, looking at Naruto's unmoving form and realizing how much blood he had lost. Hari himself was going into the panic and she could feel the fear gripping her heart.

"NOT now, Yugito! Snap out of it!" Hari shouted at her. "Keep going! One, two, three!"

"One, two, three!"

"One, two, three!"

"This isn't working Hari! You're not putting enough force!" Yugito screamed at him,

"If I put in anymore force I'm going to break his ribs! I don't have defibrillator on me in case you didn't- HOLD ON!" Hari stopped his heart massages. "Use your Raiton jutsu. Do it, send a current through his body into his heart!"

'Why hadn't I thought of that?' Yugito held her hands together and with practiced ease lightning sparked between her hands.

"Good now. Now on three, push your hands on his chest with force, Yugito. You'll have to generate a bit more than that."

"How big?"

"A voltage of 150, do it!"

"Are you sur-"

"YES! Now come on, he's not going to last much longer Yugito!" Hari shouted at her. "I'm the medic here, just follow my lead!"

And she did, generating a field of electricity around her hands. "One… two… three!" Yugito pushed down her hands with sudden force and aimed for Naruto's hand. She could barely hold a scream as Naruto convulsed violently.

"Okay, get back!" Hari leaned in, placing his ear on Naruto's chest and placing a finger on the boy's neck. "Ye- yes! We've got a pulse! I can't believe it!"

Here Naruto was with a _stab wound in his heart,_ yet with a _pulse!_

Yugito sighed with such relief she could almost cry. Hari quickly reached for his medical equipment scroll and unsealed a laryngoscope, an endotracheal tube and a purple cuff. The medic worked quickly and skillfully having learned how to do this procedure from Shi, as he went through the motions of sliding the tube down Naruto's mouth and into trachea.

"Okay, Yugito, are you with me? Good, now keep squeezing this purple balloon. It's called a cuff and it'll help Naruto breath. He's got a collapsed lung. See the blood oozing out of his mouth? His lungs are full with it. Naruto needs you and I need you too. So snap out of it, taichō."

"H- how can you be so calm?" Yugito asked with a trembling voice as she squeezed the cuff every three seconds. It amazed her Hari could stay so calm. It made her resent him and herself for her own weakness.

"I'm the medic. I have to be. Now don't forget to count to three out loud." Hari went through routine check of Naruto's body, following Shi's dictated procedures to the letter. First he needed to detect the most critical injuries and then treat them in the order of severity. Cleaning the wounds would be next before he could move on to the graver wounds.

"One, tw- two, three… Is he going to be okay?" Yugito whispered the question as though terrified of the answer, which she truly was.

"I hope so." Hari then quickly added with a reassuring smile. "It's Naruto, he'll be fine. We just need to believe in him to fight."

Yugito opened her mouth to reply when they heard screams for help close by.

"SASUKE!"

"This can't get any worse," Hari said darkly.

-ooo-

(Location: ?)

_Drip! Drip! Drip!_

Naruto's eyes fluttered open to a wet a sensation on his face. Opening his eyes he saw the familiar grimy ceiling of his mindscape. Looking to his right he saw he was laying down in sewage, yet the water was not wet. Naruto got up and looked down and noticed he was dressed in his regular black shinobi trousers and sandals, however he was shirtless and he was bleeding profusely bleeding from a gaping hole in his chest right to where his heart would be. A searing pain shot through the genin causing him to fall to his knees. The Kyūbi was punishing him, he figured. Forcing him to feel the pain he was experiencing in the real world in this wretched place.

The blond saw the cage in front of him and staggered forward as though a drunk man legless as a result of excessive alcohol consumption. "Kyūbi!" he called out to the cage. "Come out you fucking fox! KYŪBI!" Naruto fell to his knees in front of the cage in a coughing fit, "Ky- Kyūbi come out you son of a b- bitch!" Naruto supported himself with his arms seeing his reflection in the sewage water become obscured by the blood trailing from his mouth that ran down his chin. "COME OUT!"

A gigantic paw the size of a house shot out through the massive bars and stopped inches away from Naruto's face. Within the cage two enormous red orbs illuminated through the darkness.

"**UZUMAKI NARUTO, HOW GOOD TO SEE YOU. KUKUKUKU." T**he Kyūbi's giant visage closed in on Naruto and stopped mere feet away from the bars. The Kyūbi's razor like teeth gleamed sinisterly. **"YOU HAVE NOT COME TO SEE ME IN MONTHS, YET WHEN YOU ARE INJURED HERE YOU ARE, DEMANDING MY POWER TO HEAL YOU."**

"Shut the fuck up!" Naruto shouted at beast, supporting himself on the gigantic claw as though it was a crutch. "Whatever the fuck you think you're doing, you're going to stop it and you're going to heal me- did you hear me?" Naruto coughed blood, speaking an entire sentence without breathing was killing him.

"**NO, UZUMAKI NARUTO, YOU SHALL LISTEN TO ME!"** the Kyūbi bellowed, it's voice echoing so strongly the sewage water began to form into small waves. **"TIME AFTER TIME YOU RECKLESSLY ENDANGER YOUR LIFE AND BY PROXY MY OWN EXISTENCE!"**

"If you're so afraid of dying, why do- don't you fix me up you da- damn fox!" Naruto practically vomited blood now. "Wh- why are you- ugh!" Naruto fell forward and grasped for his heart.

_NARUTO? NARUTO CAN YOU HEAR ME?_

"**HAHAHA! WHAT IS IT, UZUMAKI? ARE YOU EXPERIENCING THE SUBLIME PAIN OF HEART FAILURE? IT APPEARS YOUR LUNG, TOO, HAS COLLAPSED ONCE AGAIN. PERHAPS YOUR FRIEND SHOULD LEARN HOW TO FIX SUCH DELICATE INJURIES PROPERLY? CURRENTLY, YOUR BODY IS SHUTTING DOWN ON ITS OWN DUE TO COMPLICATIONS. YOU ARE DYING, UZUMAKI NARUTO!"**

Naruto began to shake violently and uncontrollably before the Kyūbi no Yokō, _feeling_ his body shut down on him. "If I di- die, you di- die with me Ky- Kyūbi!" he managed to shout out.

_SASUKE-KUN!_

_SHUT THE FUCK UP! HE'S NOT EVEN DYING! COME HERE AND HELP NARUTO INSTEAD OR I WILL KILL THAT UCHIHA BOY MYSELF SO HELP ME!_

_YUGITO!_

"**INDEED, MY FATE IS IN YOUR HANDS, UZUMAKI NARUTO! DO NOT FORGET, IF YOU DIE, I SHALL PERISH WITH YOU. AND LET ME MAKE THIS CLEAR, I WILL NOT TOLERATE YOUR CARELESSNESS. REMEMBER THIS, UZUMAKI NARUTO, I WILL NOT WITHER AWAY! I SHALL NOT PERISH HERE!"**

_NO, WE RISKED OUR LIVES FOR THE UCHIHA BECAUSE NARUTO WANTED TO AND NOW THEY WILL RETURN THE FAVOUR! NARUTO IS DYING, HE ISN'T. STAY OUT OF OUR BUSINESS, TAIKO!_

_HARI, IS HE GOING TO BE OKAY? YOU SAID HE WAS GOING TO BE OKAY!_

_"Wh- what did that snake bastard d- do to me?" The pain had become unbearable by now. Naruto reached for his chest with both hands, clawing at himself as if wanting reach his own heart._

_NARUTO OPEN YOUR EYES! COME ON BUDDY DON'T GIVE UP NOW! NARUTO!_

_IS HE DYING?_

_I DON'T KNOW – WHAT THE FUCK DOES IT LOOK LIKE, HUH?_

**"THE SERPENT INFECTED YOUR BODY WITH HIS OMINOUS CHAKRA. ITS FOUL ESSENCE BLED INTO YOUR CHAKRA PATHWAYS AND SO HAS MADE OUR CHAKRA CLASH. I AM POWERLESS TO STOP IT. THE SEAL THAT BLASTED YONDAIME PUT ON YOU DRAWS MY CHAKRA OUT ON ITS OWN. DUE TO MY CHAKRA FLOWING THROUGH YOUR BODY, I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO HEAL YOUR INJURIES IN THE PAST. NOW THAT THE SNAKE HAS MEDDLED WITH IT, THERE NO LONGER IS SUCH AN OPTION. FOR ALL INTENTS AND PURPOSES, UZUMAKI NARUTO, YOU ARE NOW DEAD."**

_WE'RE LOOSING HIM! HARUNO COME HERE!_

_STOP BEING SO TROUBLESOME LISTEN TO HIM! _

_EVERYBODY CALM DOWN. WE CANNOT AFFORD TO PANICK!_

_KENJI IS RIGHT. WE NEED TO STAY CALM._

"Why am I hearing all these voices if I'm dead?" Naruto managed to wheeze through the coughs and grunts. "I can hear my teammates and my friends and a few others."

_WHO ASKED YOU ONE-EYE? SASUKE-KUN NEEDS JUST AS MUCH-_

_NO HE DOESN'T. LOOK, I KNOW YOU'RE SCARED OF LOSING HIM BUT NARUTO NEEDS YOU. _

**"I DID NOT SAY YOU WERE ACTUALLY DEAD. FOR ALL INTENTS AND PURPOSES, YOU ARE CLINICALLY DEAD, YET HERE YOU ARE. YOUR BODY MAY VERY WELL REPAIR ITSELF. HOWEVER, THERE IS A COST FOR YOUR SURVIVAL, UZUMAKI."**

"I don't like the so- sound of this..." Naruto lurched and vomited blood. Strangely enough it did not mingle with the water. In fact, it just passed through it, not even making a sound.

_OH FUCK, HE'S VOMITING BLOOD. PUT HIM ON HIS SIDE AND HAND ME THAT NEEDLE!_

_THIS ONE?_

_YES, HAND IT OVER!_

**"A COST MUST BE PAID, UZUMAKI. YOU WILL FIND IT MUCH MORE DESIRABLE THAN THE ALTERNATIVE."**

"What did you ha- have in mi- mind, Kyūbi?" Naruto rolled over onto his back, too tired to voluntarily grip his chest anymore. It was futile. He simply would have to endure the pain.

**"YOU MUST RIP THE SEAL ON MY CAGE BY HALF. IT WILL ALLOW ME TO CHANNEL MORE CHAKRA THROUGH YOUR PATHWAYS. IT WILL BE UNPLEASANT AND IT WILL HURT BUT IT WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE AS WELL AS MINE."**

"I'm not ripping up that se- seal," Naruto wheezed, "I'm not that stu- stupid, Kyūbi. The second I weaken the seal, you'll try to escape."

**"FOOL! DO YOU THINK THIS A BID FOR FREEDOM? MY VERY EXISTENCE IS TEETHERING ON THE LINE OF LIFE AND DEATH. DO AS I SAY, I WILL NOT DIE HERE. I WILL NOT DIE AS THE TENANT OF ANOTHER JINCHŪRIKI!"**

"Another?" Naruto _almost_ forgot about the pain. "What do you mean another, Kyūbi? Answer me!"

A feral grin crept unto the Kyūbi's visage. **"WE WILL SPEAK OF THIS MATTER ONCE YOU HAVE SURVIVED THIS ORDEAL. NOW, UZUMAKI NARUTO, DO AS I SAY AND RIP THE SEAL IN HALF. IT IS THE ONLY WAY FOR ME TO CHANNEL MORE OF MY CHAKRA WITHIN YOUR BEING."**

The facts were crushing Naruto. As much as he hated it, as much as he despised the Kyūbi… it was right. He was dying- no, he was already dead. And it wasn't as if the Kyūbi asked him to remove the seal entirely.

With a heavy sigh Naruto gave in, his pride be damned."I must be stupid but I'll have to be- believe you, Kyūbi." Naruto slowly got to his feet and staggered towards the gates. "If you try to screw me over, know that my teammates can subdue you Kyūbi. And once I ge- get my body back I will fuck you up so bad you'll regret it."

**"YOUR ARROGANCE OFFENDS ME. HURRY, IT WILL NOT BE LONG FOR EVEN MY POWERS CANNOT SAVE YOU."**

"OK… I'll do it, Kyū- Kyūbi…"

Naruto's hand reached out slowly for the seal stuck unto the cage, his entire body was aching and screaming in pain. At the very moment he couldn't breathe, the concentration required for the simple task of reaching up and ripping off the seal took more effort than any training he had ever done.

As Naruto's hand reached the seal, tucking his fingers under it to rip if off, another hand, larger than his own, reached and grabbed his wrist and halted his movements.

"What the-"

**"YOU!" **the Kyūbi bellowed in fury as Naruto turned around.

Naruto's eyes met those of a man in his mid-twenties with long shaggy blond hair, jaw length bangs and vibrant blue eyes identical to his own. It took Naruto no less than a second to recognize the figure in Konoha jōnin garb and a white coat with flames on the back. This was a man he had seen before many times as he looked up to the Hokage monument.

"Yo- Yondaime?"

Namikaze Minato smiled kindly. "Hey there… son."

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Wadduup people?

Not gonna take a lot of your time, I just want to make two quick announcement. One, thank you for being awesome, cool and bloody brilliant for reviewing. I got thirty reviews in _two_ days, that is a record! It's not a lot compared to what some stories out there get but it means _so_ much to me. I'm a walking wicket basket of kittens sliding down a double rainbow since Kumo Nin has broke the 500 reviews barrier. My dream of achieving 1000+ reviews actually seems possible, so, again, thank you.

My second announcement, I will henceforth cease with long-ass notes (this being the final one). I give way too much away and it's like I'm trying to convince you to keep reading. So y'all just need to sit tight and see where this crazy ride takes you. If you like what's happening: great, if not: I hope you don't give up on this story straightaway. Everything, and I mean **everything**, that happens in this story happens for a reason. I know some of you may not like it _at the time,_ like now with Naruto facing Orochimaru, you'll soon realize _why_ I did. It's all for the sake of development, which you will see starting the next chapter.

Leave me a line or two help me to realize that dream, people!

…

**Jutsu Used:**

_ (Jutsu: Shippū Shūren! Dai Giri – Hurricane Drill! Great Slash!) - B rank, offensive, short to mid range. This jutsu is derived from Naruto's Shippū Shūren and was made up on the spot. Naruto will channel additional chakra into his Shippū Shūren to temporarily increase its length and sharpness tremendously for a swift cut. **Parent jutsu:** Fūton: Shippū Shūren (Hurricane Drill)._

_ (Jutsu: Fūton! Daitoppa – Great Breakthrough!) - C rank, supplementary, mid to long range. The Daitoppa is a ninjutsu technique which utilizes wind chakra. After bringing his hand to his mouth, the user will blow a large blast of wind capable of leveling almost anything in its way. A variation of the technique involves a smaller blast of wind which gets ignited with flame. This variation is often used in sabotage and demolition missions. Naruto has created a new variation, in which he 'pulls' the collecting air pocket to both hands and expels it in front of him. This variation is far more powerful than the standard Daitopppa._

_(Jutsu: Sanseiu -Acid Rain!) - ? rank, offensive, mid range. Kurome leaks his acidic venom into the back of his throat and rains it down upon his enemies. The acid in his venom can melt through steel and thus is highly dangerous. Even the smallest amount can kill._

_(Jutsu: Iyashu Kajiru – Healing Bite!) - ? rank, supplementary, short range. The Healing Bite is a special jutsu of Kusagakure that aided it greatly during the Great Shinobi Wars and its skirmishes with other villages. The jutsu is implanted within small children aged four to eight once near-perfect chakra control or, in some cases, perfect chakra control has been established. Not much is known about the jutsu as it is a highly kept secret but it essentially makes the muscles of the container generate healing chakra that can be used to save others from otherwise certain death._


	23. A Family Reunion & Revelations

**Kumogakure Ninja**

Posted: 19-04-11

Updated: 28-06-11

* * *

CH23: A Family Reunion & Revelations

* * *

(Forest of Death)

Hari gripped onto his hair with frustration. "I can't fix this, Yugito!" Naruto wasn't breathing, and hadn't been for nearly twenty minutes; his lungs were collapsing once again and his heart simply stopped beating. The damage inflicted by Orochimaru was simply out of his means to fix. There was no way he could fix damage organs that had been plunged through with a legendary sharp blade. "I can't fix this… It's happening again." A shocking image of the Kusa genin that died in his arms days before gripped him. Nothing but cold, unrelenting fear swept over him, sending shivers down his spine. Naruto looked just as silent and peaceful as the nameless genin that had died before.

"Is he dead?" Ino whispered with shock, looking at her peers.

Yugito wiped the tears of her cheeks and shook her head. "No, he can't be." As much as she wanted to believe though, she simply couldn't bring herself to believe the words coming from her mouth. 'If he dies… if he's dead…' Yugito shook her head and lunged for Hari, grabbing onto his collar and shaking him violently. "He's not dead, Hari! Get back to work. You can do this, you can save him!"

Hari had already shut down at this point and he merely shook his head with a crestfallen look at his fallen comrade. "It's too late, Yugito. His heart's stopped and he hasn't breathed for over twenty minutes. There's no saving him now." Hari solemnly took out the breathing tube and cuff out of Naruto's mouth with tears running down his cheeks as he silently cried.

Sakura looked over to the pair of Kumo genin and swallowed thickly, looking back down to Sasuke. "If it's been that long, there's no way he is still alive. I'm sorry… for your loss." It was an utterly tactless and poor timed thing to say and the rosette instantly regretted it.

"What did you say?" Yugito hissed at her with venom.

"N- nothing. It's just that your teammate ha- has been clinically dead for-"

"He is _not_ dead!" Yugito spat. "He can't be dead." The blonde kunoichi pinched down on Naruto's nose and took a deep breath, pressing her lips to his and blowing air down his throat. "I'm not going to give up on him!" Yugito discharged another wave of lightning. "One, two, three."

"Yugito," Kenji tried to reason.

Yugito did not hear him. She refused to hear anyone had to say. Naruto was alive and she knew it. "One, two, three."

Hyūga Neji merely said in a hollow whisper, "He died a noble death protecting his comrades. Such was his fate." The Hyūga turned to his teammates and nodded to them, "Let's go." Tenten merely nodded and followed whilst Lee sported tears and pumped his fist. "Yosh, I will become a splendid ninja for the both of us, Naruto!" The Azure Beast of Konoha left to be with his team.

"One, two, three." Another mouthful of air and shock of lightning to no avail.

"Yugito, please don't do this," Taiko was unsuccessfully fighting back tears of her own and placed a comforting hand on Yugito's shoulder, trying to pull her back.

Yugito violently shook her hand off and continued. "One, two, three."

Taiko turned to Kenichi and nodded. They both placed their hands on her arms and shoulders and pulled her back gently but forcefully. "Come on now, Yugito. He's dead. It's too late." As Taiko said the words, she felt absolutely dreadful and horrible but they had to be said.

"No! One, two, three," Yugito resisted at first, violently even as she elbowed Kenichi. The genin took it without complaint however and continued to pull her back along with Taiko. Eventually, with a cry of anguish and stinging tears Yugito allowed herself to be pulled away.

"He can't be dead!" Yugito screamed. "I won't let him!"

"Come here, Yugito," Taiko pulled her into a hug and tried to console her, whispering comforts into her ear and holding her tightly. Yugito wrapped her arms around her and buried herself into Taiko's embrace. The older kunoichi held on tightly and allowed Yugito to shake uncontrollably and cry.

Hari sat silently next to his friend and eyed the whiskered genin with inconsolable grief when a sudden movement caught his. "Naruto?" Hari clambered to his feet and leant in quickly. "Yu- Yugito come quick. You've got to see this!"

The genin nearby both from Kumo and Konoha quickly looked over as Naruto's finger twitched.

"Is he alive?"

"I think so. Back away, give him so space to breathe…" Hari was eyeing Naruto tentatively, watching with pure fascination as the blood on his clothes began to liquefy and seep back into his wounds. A sudden burst of chakra bodily blasted Hari away for a good ten feet.

"What is that?" Chōji shouted.

Hari scrambled to his feet and got back to his friend's side and gasped. "He's healing! His hands is moving- Naruto! Naruto can you hear me?"

Yugito turned away from Taiko's embrace and watched with tearful eyes as Naruto started breathing.

-ooo-

(Naruto's Mindscape)

_Drip! Drip! Drip!_

"Hello there… son."

Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage of Konoha and the heralded slayer of the Kyūbi no Yokō appeared not to be a day older since his death nearly fourteen years ago when he sealed the Kyūbi within Naruto, mere hours after his birth.

"…"

Naruto was in a world of shock. His eyes were practically bulging out of his sockets, his brain unable to comprehend what had just been said to him. Here in his mindscape, standing right next to him, was the Yondaime, smiling at him kindly.

"Did you just call me 'son'?"

**"YOU! BLASTED YONDAIME, COME HERE SO I CAN DEVOUR YOU!"** the Kyūbi howled, striking its claws through the bars of the cage that imprisoned it.

Minato moved so fast Naruto's head was spinning. One moment he had been at the gate to the cage and the other he was thirty feet away at a safe distance from the gigantic fox that began to trash and howl in his cage with fury.

'He's so fast…' Naruto saw the look of cold disdain on Minato's face and almost cringed as he felt a shiver go down his spine. That was when he noticed he wasn't feeling any pain; it was as if the Yondaime's presence made it all go away. "Yondaime, why don't I feel any pain? I was practically dying in my own mind just now." A wave of exhilaration splashed through him. He was speaking to perhaps the strongest shinobi to have ever lived.

Minato did not reply straightaway, his calculative eyes on the Kyūbi as the fox itself seemed to be trashing and howling in its cage although no sound emitted from it. Then, finally, Minato looked down onto his son with a kind smile. "I'm sure you've got a lot of questions, Naruto, but first I need to know what you were about to do."

"Huh?" was Naruto's intelligent reply. 'How embarrassing!' Naruto shook his head and swallowed thickly. "I was going to rip up half of the seal so the Kyūbi could force more chakra through… me…" he trailed off, noticing the Yondaime nodded already and was eyeing the fox again. The Kyūbi was roaring and trashing in its cage, ramming against the bars that imprisoned it, yet no sound carried over to the two blondes.

"Good, I was checking if you still were in control of your mind." Minato then smiled, it was a warm smile only a father could give a son. "We need to talk, Naruto."

Naruto snapped out his distracted trance and nodded to Minato, distancing himself from the older blonde, remembering exactly what the Yondaime Hokage had done to him. "That's right. You called me your son, what's that all about? Am I really your kid?"

Minato nodded without hesitation. "That's right, you are my son, Namikaze Naruto, although you go by your mother's surname these days. As for you why you're not feeling pain anymore, it's tied to the same reason I'm here." Minato shot the Kyūbi one last glance and then turned to his son. "Before my passing I placed a fragment of my soul and chakra within you, Naruto, in case the day came you ripped off the seal or lost control."

"I didn't lose control," Naruto said defensively.

"No, you didn't, Naruto." Minato smiled mirthlessly. "I need to ask you something, son. I've been in your mind for as long as you lived, meaning everything you've experienced, I know off," Minato allowed time for a nod of acknowledgement and continued, "Are you happy in Kumo?"

Naruto almost raised an eyebrow at him and felt a strong indignation swell up in him. Was the Yondaime judging him for leaving Konoha all those years ago? "Of course I am! I have everything I ever wanted in Kumo! I've got friends, the people there treat me with decency and Kirabi's like a father to me. A better one than you've been," Naruto added harshly, the smile on Minato's face annoyed him. It was such an annoying smile, he would've preferred a sneer or a smirk instead.

"You hate me, don't you, Naruto?" Nothing betrayed any resentment from Minato as he posed the question.

Naruto gritted his teeth. "No, I don't hate you. What were you doing all this time in my mind anyway? You should know I gave up on hate a long time ago."

"Because Kirabi told you to," Minato nodded. "It was the same day he started training you to use the Kyūbi's power." Minato waved his hand to the right and instantly phantom copies of a younger Kirabi and a six-year-old Naruto stood conversing.

_"Now listen up, Naruto, before we start you need to promise to me you'll let go of the hate and give up on all plans for vengeance," Phantom-Kirabi instructed his new student._

_"But why?" Phantom-Naruto shouted in return. "It's not like I don't have a good reason to hate them! Why do I need to be the one to forgive? It's not fair! I didn't do anything to them, even if the Kyūbi did horrible things, it's not my fault. You told me so!"_

_Phantom-Kirabi placed his large hands on the boy's shoulders, covering most of the boy's frame. "Naruto, hatred and vengeance never lead to anything good. If you keep hanging on to it, it's going to ruin your life as well as others'." Phantom-Kirabi sighed and then said, "I think it's time I tell you a story from when I was a boy, Naruto."_

The copies seemed to fast-forward rapidly, but Naruto already knew the story.

_"… Fortunately, in the end, Motoi let go of his hatred and now we're best friends, but that doesn't happen nearly as much, do you understand me, Naruto? People can become real monsters if they let their desire for vengeance rule them. In fact… the Hachibi jinchūriki before me was a ruthless monster, he gave into the hate and ultimately he killed a lot of people… including my best friend Motoi's old man… and mine. For a very long time I hated the Hachibi and I hated the jinchūriki before, and I hated myself for being a jinchūriki, the same as the person who killed my father. It wasn't for big bro I would've become the same, eventually." Phantom-Kirabi sighed heavily. "Do you see where I'm getting at, Naruto? Hate just gives birth to more hate. The cycle keeps on going and more monsters are unleashed on the innocent."_

Naruto winced involuntarily as he knew was going to be said.

_"I'm not going to raise a monster, Naruto. You don't want to be a monster, do you?"_

_Phantom-Naruto burst into tears at that and shook his head violently. "N- no! I don't wanna be a monster, Kirabi!"_

Naruto glared at Minato. "Stop it."

With another gesture of Minato's hand the phantom images disappeared. "Kirabi meant well, Naruto," said Minato calmly, "But in a way, he stunted your growth more than you realize- umph!"

Naruto's fist smashed into Minato's face with such incredible impact the older blonde flew to the ground, landing hard on his back and blood streamed down his nose and out of his mouth.

"Don't you dare speak about Kirabi that way, Pops!" Naruto spat the nickname with venom. "If it wasn't for Kirabi, I'd be some crazy killer like Orochimaru or Gaara! It's because of Kirabi I'm the man I am today, he raised me like a son!" He then added with an ice cold tone, "He's a better father to me than you ever could be."

Minato's eyes narrowed and turned equally cold. "He didn't do a very good job raising you, did he?" Naruto gasped and looked like he was about to kill him, shaking with barely restrained hate, but Minato pressed on. "He forced you to 'give up' on negative emotions so you wouldn't grow to become a monster but what he really asked of you that day was to bottle up your hate and anger like he did. How can an adult ask that of a child, to bottle up his emotions and let it stunt his growth? Look at what you've become-"

"SHUT UP!" Naruto kicked Minato in his ribs and continued to kick the Yellow Flash repeatedly, angry tears running down his cheeks as he roared in anger. The Kyūbi had stopped its trashing and was now silently roaring in laughter, cheering him on. "You don't have the fucking RIGHT to say anything!"

"If you gave up on hate, then why are you so angry? It's because you are weak." Minato blocked a kick with his forearm and shot Naruto the same look of cold disdain he had given the Kyūbi. "You're a disappointment."

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Naruto now moved on to punching Minato repeatedly, holding him up by his hair and slamming his fists in the Yondaime's face. "STOP TALKING!"

As his fist repeatedly bounced off Minato's face, a cold sensation spread throughout his body. This wasn't working. He didn't feel better from hitting his old man. There was no satisfaction, no gratification… Why wasn't this satisfying him? Why didn't he feel any better? He kept smashing his fist into Minato's face, willing himself to take some sort of satisfaction out of it, but none came. He felt just felt even angrier than before.

"AAAH!" Naruto reared his back fully and swung it-

Minato's hand shot out and caught his fist, blood trickling down his chin. "You say you love Kumo, Naruto, you speak of it as if it's a paradise but you have no idea what Kumo did to your mother!" An expression of shock etched unto Naruto's face and his hand froze, he opened his mouth but no sound followed. "Kumo tried to kidnap your mother when she was only a young girl. Those power-craving fools abducted her, and they were going to kill her, and they would have if I hadn't stopped them! Do you know what the shinobi that kidnapped your mother tried to do to her?"

"I- what do you-"

Now Minato was angry and he jumped up, flooring his son as he began to return the punches. "If I hadn't gone stopped those animals, Naruto… Your mother didn't deserve what they tried to do to her!"

The pain didn't register completely with Naruto. The only thing he noticed was the painful glint in Minato's eyes as he drove his fist into his son's face. Before each punch Naruto counted, he could sense hesitation and regret in Minato. It was as if… he was forcing himself to do this. Blood trickled down the side of Naruto's head, but the pain he felt from it did not even begin to compare to the pain he felt in his chest.

Minato cocked back his arm to deliver another strike when a black blur tackled him to the side. Naruto scrambled to his feet and his eyes widened when he saw a perfect replica of himself beating down on Minato. The 'Naruto' before him was in a constant shroud of darkness.

"A memory?" Naruto whispered to no one, wiping blood of his face

Minato threw the other 'Naruto' off him and got to his feet and wiped the blood of his face with a wave of his hand. "There we go," he said smiling. "This is you, Naruto, or better yet, this is the dark version of you."

Naruto looked at Minato and then at… himself? "Who are you?" Naruto didn't quite know what else to say. "You're just like me, but you're not… you're different."

Dark-Naruto scowled at him. **"No, we are the same guy, through and through, Naruto. I am you and you are me."**

"He's lying, Naruto," said Minato. "This creature is a figment of your mind. This is, in some ways, the real you but he's only a representation of your-"

"Wh- WHAT the FUCK is going on?" Naruto demanded with a shout. "This is fucking insane, my mind is going crazy!" Naruto held his head, digging his nails into his scalp. 'The Yondaime's my dad? … Kumo tried to kidnap my mother? … This is me?'

**"Don't listen to him! He's just a coward, Naruto! He's why we're hated so much! He's why we had to run away in the first place!"**

"He is?"

**"YES HE IS!"**

"Naruto, you need to listen to me. You created this dark version of you to deal with your own dark emotions." Minato was forced to duck to the side as Dark-Naruto charged at him with a Shippū Shūren, swiping at his face.

Naruto seeing himself attack Minato narrowed his eyes and charged alongside with his dark-self, as though he was using a Kage Bunshin. The pair charged their Hurricane Drills and continued to work in tandem, flawlessly weaving their attacks one after another. However, Minato was the Yondaime, arguable the most gifted shinobi in history and was by no stretch of the mind a pushover. Minato dodged their attacks effortlessly, going as far as boldly slipping between as he spoke.

"This is what you created, the result of all the pent up anger, hate and frustration created this version of you," Minato explained calmly.

Dark-Naruto and Naruto stood shoulder to shoulder and shouted, "YAGURA!" and hundreds of compacted air bludgeons surged at the Yondaime. Minato moved so quick they hadn't even blinked and he was right beside them, standing on his hands and kicking them both aside.

Naruto soared through the air, opposite of his dark-self, and skid painfully on his shoulder. "I hate you!" Naruto roared. "You want me to let my feelings out? FINE! I fucking HATE you, Yondaime! I HATE EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU!"

**"That's right! He's the reason for our pain, Naruto! If it wasn't for him we wouldn't have suffered like we did… they wouldn't have spat on us in the street, they wouldn't have vandalized our home or throw rocks at us because they felt like it. If it weren't for HIM, we would have had a NORMAL LIFE!" **Dark-Naruto screamed.

Naruto and Dark-Naruto both formed a single Shippū Shūren on their right arms and charged at Minato's sides, simultaneously screaming, "DAI GIRI!" The massive drill blades moved to quick however as Minato simply disappeared at reappeared next to Dark-Naruto with a steeled expression on his face.

A ball of energy formed in Minato's hand and before Dark-Naruto could move, he slammed it in the dark-self of Naruto. "Rasengan."

In a massive sphere of energy, Dark-Naruto exploded backwards, sent hurtling and immobilized through the air. Naruto's eyes widened, but he quickly snapped out of it, remembering he was fighting it out with the Yondaime.

Naruto charged towards Minato but was met with incredible pressure as Minato held up his hand in his way. Naruto gasped for air as he struggled, his entire body feeling like it weighted a trillion tons. "What did you do?" Naruto's eyes widened as kanji wrapped around his torso, wrists, ankles and elbows. Minato used an Fūinjutsu on him!

"I'm sorry I made you angry, Naruto, but I had to get you upset so you could come to terms with yourself and the darkness a part of you has always hanged onto."

Naruto's eyes widened. "WHY?" he shouted. "Why are you even here? Why is all of this happening? It's too much!" Naruto felt as if his head was going to explode. So many revelations in such a short span of time were giving him an migraine.

"I think I can help you with that, Naruto."

Minato, Dark-Naruto and Naruto all turned to source of the new voice and Naruto's breath hitched upon the sight of a beautiful woman in her mid-twenties approaching.

The woman had long red hair going down to the small of her back in nine thick locks, she wore jōnin trousers with the assorted holsters and pouches and a tight, dark blue shirt matching her pants with long and wide orange sleeves that stopped above her naval, showing off her abs. The shirt bore the emblem of Konoha as well as a spiral on her back. She wore her headband around her neck and eyes were a brilliant shade of violet.

"Kushina," Minato strode to the woman and embraced her, planting a chaste kiss on her lips. "You shouldn't have come out here."

Uzumaki Kushina shook her head and smiled gently at her husband. "I want us to see our son together, Minato." Kushina then turned to Naruto who was red in the face. "Come here, Naruto. Give your mother a hug."

Minato held up his hands in a ram hand seal and the Fūinjutsu cancelled, allowing him movement over his body.

Naruto took a step forward but then shook his head. "No, this has gotta be a trick. The Kyūbi's messing with me, this can't be real…" Naruto rubbed his eyes, refusing to cry. "You're not real. None of this is. The Yondaime isn't my father and my mother wasn't so beautiful… I need to wake up." Naruto held his face, pinching himself as hard as he could. When nothing happened, a sense of dread struck him. "Maybe I'm already dead…"

Kushina and Minato looked at each other and smiled affectionately. Kushina then strode over and pulled Naruto into a deep and warm hug and held him tightly. "We're not a part of your imagination, Naru-chan. This is all in your head, but it's real."

"That makes it sound like we're not really here, Kushina," Minato deadpanned dryly.

"Shut up, stop trying to embarrass me, dattebane!" Kushina said embarrassedly. "Naruto, are you crying?" Kushina held her son at arm's length and as she had expected he was crying. "Don't cry, Naruto. It makes me want to cry with you."

"Tell me this isn't a dream or some sick joke!" Naruto cried.

**"They're real, but that doesn't mean they're not responsible for the shit we had to put up with, Naruto! Let go of that bitch, she's his accomplice!" **Dark-Naruto shouted angrily. **"Stop being such a damn weakling! Dry your tears, stop crying and destroy them! You know they deserve it!"**

Minato laughed, it was genuine heartily laugh. "Son, this isn't a dream. Right before your mother and I passed away, we sealed a tiny fragment of our soul and remaining chakra in you. We'll explain right after this." Minato disappeared in a blink of an eye and reappeared in front of Dark-Naruto and placed his hand on the Naruto replica's forehead. The dark matter seeped into his palm quickly and soon Dark-Naruto had disappeared.

Minato moved towards the Kyūbi but Kushina held up her hand. "I've got it, Minato, don't use too much of your energy." Kushina let go of Naruto who seemed absolutely crushed but she quickly reassured him, "Don't worry, I'm just going to remove that pesky seal that's messing with your body, Naru-chan."

Naruto blushed both at the affectionate nickname and in realization of how clingy he was being. "… Dad? I'm sor-"

Minato cut him off immediately. "Don't apologize, Naruto, it was my intention to get you angry. Besides, I don't feel pain in here, neither does your mother. Here, you should get dressed."

Instantly, out of nowhere, a black shirt appeared in Naruto's hands with the Konoha and spiral emblem. Naruto pulled it over his and felt a pull at his naval followed by a celebratory "Kyah!" from Kushina. Naruto dropped to his knees under the buckling sensation. "My chakra… it's returning."

Kushina rejoined them and took Naruto into another embrace and ran a hand through his hair as they snuggled together. "We have a lot to talk about, Naru-chan."

"We do indeed, son."

Kushina then smiled and said, "How about we change the scenery first. I always wanted to have a family picnic."

As if on command the scenery changed instantly and no longer were they in the dark, grimy sewers. They were now in a beautiful park, sat on a hill under a sakura tree with a picnic set laid out.

"Shall we?" Kushina proposed with a smile.

-ooo-

(Real World: Forest of Death)

"Calm down, it's over!" Hari shouted at the genin with their weapons drawn as Naruto's crimson chakra began to seep back into his body.

Yugito watched Hari lay down the unconscious Naruto and inspect his wounds. She bit her lip knowing that just conspired would undoubtedly lead to questions.

In a corner on her right Shimura Ayame was crying, shrieking with grief over her deceased teammate whilst Madao was glaring at them as he held onto his teammate in a comforting embrace. Team Manako was eyeing them with just as much suspicion as did team Shikūyo. Luckily the Konoha genin had already parted, Yugito did not want to imagine what it would have been like to explain Naruto was the jinchūriki of a monstrous demon fox to the Hidden Leaf genin, much less her own. She was surprised they hadn't asked any questions before they left…

"So are you going to tell us what the _fuck_ that was?" Sawada Tokashiji spoke up; reminding her team Hitaro was present. They were two teams short of all Kumogakure genin teams entered in the exam. "That chakra… it wasn't human."

Yugito looked over her shoulder to her fellow jinchūriki and teammate. Hari gave her a dark look but said nothing more. "It's complicated," was all Yugito could come up with.

_"Complicated?"_ Madao spat venomously. "What's so fucking _complicated_ about that freak's chakra? I always knew he had crazy chakra levels, hell we could sense it over a fucking _mile _away but that wasn't the same chakra. _That_ was unnatural!"

A harsh comment died in her throat as Madao held on tighter to Ayame. 'He's only deflecting his anger,' Yugito thought with a sigh. She pinched the bridge of her nose, wishing she had some memory altering jutsu to use. "You wouldn't understand."

"I'd like to try, Yugito-san," Hibari of team Shikūyo replied rather testily. "I have no objection against helping you guys out, we are allies after all, but I'd think we're entitled to an explanation. Naruto went toe-to-toe with Orochimaru, even if he did lose. Him being _alive_ in the first place… it's phenomenal, not to mention he killed that giant snake with one blow. And now that shroud of chakra… I would like an explanation if our camaraderie means anything to you."

"It's a Kekkai Genkai," Yugito lied. "Naruto's bloodline limit gives him strange chakra… it's got a mind of its own sometimes and-"

_"Buuullshit,"_ Kobayashi Nobori drawled out, standing next to his and Tokashiji's teammate, Miyabi. "Sorry, but you're going to have to do better than that, Nii," he said, smiling through his perpetual slanted eyes making him look more of a fox than Naruto.

"I suggest you watch your tone before I rip out your tongue," Hari threatened aggressively. "Miyabi's teammate or not, if you speak to Yugito like that again, Kobayashi, I _will_ slice and dice your ass."

Nobori rested his hand on the butterfly sword he had strapped to the small of his back. "Oh?" the fox-faced genin taunted. "I would like to see you _try_, Seido. I've come a long way since academy days, don't think you're still in my league."

"Enough!" Kenji barked loudly at them. He was sitting on a rock in a corner within the cavern as Taiko wrapped gauze around the left side of his face. The loss of his eye had come as a surprise to all of them but it had been overshadowed by the recent events of Orochimaru attacking them. "If you two want to fight, feel free to do so later or so help me I will cut you both down."

"Ke- Kenji!" Taiko exclaimed with shock. Kenji was rarely angry and when he was he usually turned cold but she had never seen her boyfriend turn outright violent, at fellow Kumo shinobi no less.

Hari slid the chikutō in his sheath as Nobori did the same and nodded. "Fine…" he conceded and then turned to Yugito. "Are you sure you want to tell them? You don't have to if you don't want to, Yugito."

The blonde kunoichi shook her head. "No, like Hibari-senpai said, we are comrades and we owe them an explanation," she said firmly. Yugito took and deep breath and looked around the fire lit cavern. "What I am about to tell you is a secret within the walls of Kumogakure. Please keep this quiet and do not speak of this to anyone. If you do, the consequences are you own. Are we clear?"

Some of the genin in the cave nodded and Hari swallowed thickly.

"It's common knowledge Yotsuki Kirabi, our sensei, is the jinchūriki of the Hachibi," Yugito looked around the cave, observing each of the genin's expressions. "Kumo has always had possession of the Hachibi, ever since the First Shinobi World War."

"What does this have to with any of us?" Ayame asked, her voice still shaky from crying over her deceased teammate. "What does it have to do with Naruto?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Kenji said, standing up and adjusting the makeshift eye-patch himself, much to Taiko's annoyance, although the kunoichi had been distracted herself as they listened to Yugito. "Naruto is a jinchūriki."

"A what?" Miyabi asked.

"Jinchūriki," Nobunaga repeated in his deep voice. "The container of a bijū, a tailed beast."

Hari eyed him with a suspicious glare. "How do you know this?"

"My uncle Darui is good friends with Kirabi-sama. Apparently he knows you guys too."

"Huh, I was wondering why you looked so much like Darui-sensei-"

"Can we just get on with?" Nobori rudely interrupted. He exchanged death glares with Hari, although he grinned foxily in a taunting manner, and then turned to Nobunaga. "What's a bijū, huh? It sounds stupid."

"I'm not sure," Nobunaga replied in his deep voice. "Yugito-san?"

"I'll answer that," Yugito conceded. "I can't tell you all the facts as it would take too long and some of those facts are S-ranked secrets… However, simply put, a bijū is a beast of purely concentrated chakra, far more potent than any human's. They are sentient beasts with incredible power, one alone could destroy an entire country within days and revamp landscapes in hours. In total, there are nine bijū, all named after the number of tails they hold, hence why Kirabi-sensei's bijū is called the Hachibi," Yugito paused for a moment, allowing time for the information to sink before continuing with a reluctant sigh. "I am the jinchūriki of the Nibi, the Two Tailed Cat."

The genin gasped and exchanged looks of shock amongst themselves. Hari clenched his fists whilst Yugito turned into her impassive mode, shielding herself from emotional turmoil. Silence reigned for a few moments, broken only by Nobori. "Eh, so you're the second weakest? Figures as much, you don't seem very strong."

Yugito didn't dignify the taunting remark with a reply, however Hari was not as patient or forgiving and turned to Nobori's teammate. "Tokashiji if you don't shut that fool up, I'll fucking _kill _him."

Tokashiji was not as intimidated and merely shrugged uncaringly. "Go for it," the shortest of the genin told him; he then looked at Yugito. "What about Naruto? What bijū is he contain? You said there nine, so if you're the Nibi and Kirabi-sama is the Hachibi, which is Naruto?"

"They're not _the_ bijū, Sawada-san," Kenichi corrected him. "You ought to know, from what I hear you're a good friend of Naruto. Does Naruto look like a huge beast of chakra? Wouldn't think so either. Please think before speaking on such sensitive matters," the Tomaro told him diplomatically in a bout of rare maturity void of his usual humourous disposition.

To his credit Tokashiji flushed with embarrassment. "I'm sorry," he said to Yugito, "I didn't mean it like that. Obviously you're the containers, not the actual beasts. I should have thought better before speaking."

"It's fine," Yugito said dismissively, knowing Tokashiji didn't meant it like that and it was simply his ignorance speaking.

Silence again.

It was silent as all the genin of the other teams were processing the information, attempting to comprehend what this all meant and how it would affect them. Eventually it was the ever-so quiet and elegantly pretty kunoichi of team Shikūyo, Fūjihara, who repeated the question.

"What bijū does Uzumaki-san contain, Nii-san?" she asked with a patient tone that gave much away of her empathic disposition to her fellow kunoichi.

"The Kyūbi no Yokō."

"W- What?" Taiko almost hissed. "This brat- Uzumaki," she amended once Yugito shot her a murderous glare, "He's the strongest out of all of you? He's even stronger than Kirabi-sama?"

It was a fair question and the genin took it unto themselves to pry Yugito, focusing their attention on her as one.

"No," Hari decided to answer for her, imagining how uncomfortable she must be feeling even if she didn't show it. "I haven't known for very long, but Naruto certainly isn't the strongest. The Kyūbi is the strongest out of all nine bijū, but Naruto can't quite control it. He told me himself he could only grow two tails at the moment but he can't keep it up for very long or he'll lose control and starts to destroy everyone and everything… friend and foe."

"Hold on," said Miyabi. "He can't control the beast?"

"Neither can I for very long. It's an extremely difficult thing to do as the beasts are sentient and their chakra has a mind of its own. It took Kirabi-sensei decades before he had full control over the Hachibi and the Hachibi is actually one of the amiable ones, if not the only one. The Nibi does not care and all the Kyūbi wants to do is get lose and kill everyone Naruto cares about."

"Then what if he loses control? Does he unleash the Kyūbi upon Kumo?" asked Hibari.

Kenji shook his head, "I very much doubt that. There must have been a few occasions when Kirabi-sama lost control when he was learning to control the bijū, he must have slipped up at least once and if so, then probably wouldn't be alive if the Hachibi freed itself completely."

"Like I said, it's complicated," Yugito told them.

As they continued to debate amongst themselves, rapidly exchanging questions and theories, Miyabi spoke up and posed the most innocent question so far. "Naruto can grow a tail?"

Hari and Yugito simultaneously face-palmed. This was going to take a while.

-ooo-

(Naruto's Mindscape)

Naruto's eyes were wide with shock. It was hours later, and in those mere hours his entire world had been put upside down and _then_ blown to smithereens. The entire time his parents spoke he was silent, nodding and grunting in understanding but simply too shocked to say anything. He didn't trust his voice to sound anything but high pitched. As they told him stories, they projected them in his mind, making their memories part of his own so he could see what conspired clearly.

Amongst the many, many stories he had heard some were simply astounding.

Uzumaki Kushina was the Kyūbi's jinchūriki before him. His mother was not the first jinchūriki however, but the second. Before his mother, Uzumaki Mito was the Kyūbi's jinchūriki. Uzumaki Mito was the wife of Senju Hashirama the Shodaime Hokage of Konoha.

He had a clan, a very famous clan at that. The Uzumaki's founded the Hidden Whirlpool village, they were related to the Senju's and Uchiha's, and quite possibly, the Hyūga's. They excelled at Fūinjutsu and ninjutsu. They were so strong, they struck fear in others to the point they were ultimately wiped about by combined forces of Iwa and other minor villages. Prior to their destruction, the Shodaime and Nidaime were particularly close to his clan.

As a child, Uzumaki Kushina was kidnapped by Kumo shinobi under the orders of the Sandaime Raikage, Yotsuki Makuden… Kirabi's old man. The jōnin that kidnapped her almost committed _unspeakable_ acts, and they would have succeeded if it wasn't for his father, who caught the trail of red hair Kushina left behind. Kushina and Minato were pretty much inseparable ever since that day.

Most importantly: his parents would have lived if it hadn't been for Uchiha Madara, the co-founder of Konoha. If it hadn't been for Uchiha Madara, Naruto would never have had the Kyūbi sealed in him, his mother and father would have never died and he would have never been hated and mistreated as a child.

"I'll kill him."

It was plain and simple. No emotions: no anger, no rage, no frustration… simply the goal of killing came to Naruto's mind as he said it. He wasn't crying, his fists weren't clenched nor was he gritting his teeth. His eyes were just as blue as they were before, though they were wide open and his pupils were noticeably diluted.

"I'm going to kill him. I'm going to rip him apart… I'm going to make him suffer and _then_ I'll kill him."

Minato and Kushina shared knowing looks and the latter then cupped Naruto's face forcefully and made him look into her eyes. "We don't want you to seek revenge, Naruto."

Naruto covered his mother's hands with his own. "But he ruined everything. It wasn't for him, you would be alive, we would still be together and we'd be a family. I might even have little brothers and sisters."

"Naruto," Minato was fighting back the tears as much as Kushina was, "We never wanted any of this for you, and I hope you know that. We just wanted you to…"

"Live…" Kushina finished for him. "Naruto, we wanted for you to have a normal life, you know? We wanted to raise you ourselves, teach how to talk, how to walk, how to mend a broken heart, how to hold a kunai right… Oh, God, I can't believe what we missed out on."

Now Kushina was crying and so was Naruto as Minato embraced the two of them. "Kaa-chan, I didn't know what Kumo did… I'm so sorry, I thought Dad was lying and I'm just so ashamed-"

"Shhh," Kushina held him tightly. "It's okay, Naruto. If that hadn't happened, Minato wouldn't have saved me and perhaps you wouldn't have been born," she giggled at his blush at what she implied and cooed as though he was an infant.

Minato ruffled his hair and said with a chuckle, "You mother was _hopelessly_ in love with me cause of that incident, Naruto, so don't be down, son."

"Is that so, mister 'I would recognize such beautiful hair anywhere', huh?" Kushina prodded her husband hard with her elbow. "I didn't think of it at the time, but that's a creepy thing to say, you know? It sounds like you're a stalker or," a deviant smile graced her features, "One of my many, _many_ admirers."

Minato hung his head, getting a giggle out of Kushina who then awarded him with a passionate kiss. As it went on Naruto felt the urge to vomit and pulled a face that conveyed those thoughts exactly.

"Oh, grow up!" Kushina playfully slapped him on the arm.

"It's not much different from you and that pretty girl on your team, Yugito was it?" Minato added with feigned ignorance. "She could give your mother a run for her- I mean, she's very pretty, you're lucky to have her," Minato quickly amended, catching the dark look Kushina shot him.

Naruto blushed and rubbed the back of his head. "It's nothing like that, it's just a kiss. I don't think she's really into me. She was just worried cause she thought I was about to die, which I guess I did." Naruto said red in the face.

"Three kisses," Minato counted, "And believe it or not, your mother wasn't into me that much, even _after_ I saved her. It took a while before we got to where we are. It was a bumpy ride, and not the good kind," Naruto blushed a shade of dark red at what his father was playfully implying, "But in the end, it was all worth it," Minato added with a lovingly kiss on Kushina's head.

"Your father was extremely flaky and girly-looking as a child," Kushina elaborated much to Minato's embarrassment. "I actually bullied him for a while in the academy. Can you believe it?"

"Thank you, dear, here I was trying to give him the impression I'm a cool guy and there you go telling him such embarrassing things."

Naruto laughed. "It's okay, dad, you _are_ cool. You're the coolest guy I know, and not just cause you're strong," Naruto told him with a sense of pride and then added with a huge smile, "I'm proud to be your son."

"Thank you, Naruto, I'm proud of you, too," Minato ruffled his hair affectionately. The Yondaime then added with a serious expression, "And just so you know, I _allowed_ her to bully me. She was an extremely cute tomato-girl as a child and I couldn't help but indulge her."

"Tomato-girl?" Naruto repeated.

Kushina slapped a hand over Minato's mouth and smiled nervously. "Oh, just something about my hair… it doesn't matter, I turned out to be a bombshell anyway!" Kushina declared with a fist pump.

Naruto sweat-dropped and merely nodded. 'That was embarrassing to watch… I see where I get my sense of humour from. Dad's kind of shrewd but Kaa-chan is like me, I wonder if she was a tomboy when she was younger.'

"Anything on your mind?" Minato asked, holding his wife in an embrace from behind, resting his head on her shoulder and his arms on her tummy. "Son?"

Naruto rubbed the tears away. "No, it's just that I'm happy we got to do this. I never knew what a family was like until now… you know, the whole family dinner, a mother's love and fatherly advice… it never meant anything to me until now." Naruto took a deep breath and said, "Thank you, Dad, Kaa-chan, this means the world to me."

"Naruto we love you more than anything, you know that, right?" Kushina pulled her son into another embrace and then pulled Minato in it too. "I love you two more than anything. The only thing I truly regret is not witnessing your grow up myself, Naru-chan."

"It must have been hard, especially those first six years, son," Minato ruffled his son's hair again and kissed his head.

Naruto shrugged in an embarrassed fashion, he wasn't used to being fussed over. "Well, it was hard learning stuff. Like you know, brushing my teeth, learning how to read and write and for a long time I did hate you for leaving me but I never knew my parents were heroes. I knew never knew you two were such amazing people… why are you crying, Kaa-chan? Is it something I said? I'm sorry-"

"Don't be, Naru-chan," Kushina shook her head. "These are _happy_ tears. I'm so proud of you I know I can move on now."

Naruto flinched. "You're leaving me, so soon?" Naruto held on tighter. "No… please, Kaa-chan, Dad, don't leave now…"

"Don't worry, Naruto, we've got some time. We put in more chakra than we needed. We have a few more hours at the very least," Minato reassured him.

Naruto released a breath he didn't realize he was holding. "Is there a way I can strengthen your seal, Dad? I'm just beginning but I'm pretty good at seals, maybe I can keep you guys longer."

"Maybe," Minato said easily, "But it wouldn't be right, Naruto. We've passed on in the real world, it's the order of life. I know you don't agree, please don't give me that look, son, but that's just how it is."

Naruto looked downcast and hung his head, nodding. "OK…"

Kushina and Minato exchanged meaningful looks and then nodded simultaneously.

"Naru-chan, we weren't here to teach you when you were younger but we've got a lot to teach you, if you want," Kushina offered with a motherly grin.

Naruto's face lit up. "Really? Then, ye- yeah! I wanna be as strong as you were- no, ever stronger than you were! I wanna show the world what the son of the Yellow Flash and the Chishio no Habanero can do!"

"That's the right attitude, Naruto!" Minato praised encouragingly. "So you want me to teach you the Hiraishin? It'll be a while before you can use it but practice makes perfect."

Kushina kissed her son on the forehead. "The Uzumaki Clan passed down a lot of its secrets to me when I was a child, Naru-chan. You should explore the ruins when you're older, from what I remember there's a hidden labyrinth underground that leads to a vault with most of our Fūinjutsu. You should probably wait till you're a little older, but in the meanwhile I can teach you all about chakra chains."

"I- Dad- Kaa-" clearly overwhelmed Naruto took a deep breath. It took him a moment a moment or two to collect his thoughts before he could answer. Turning to his father, Naruto said with an serious expression: "I don't want to be the second coming of the Yellow Flash, Dad, I want to show the world what _I _can do, not what _you_ could, but I'd love to learn the jutsu so I can make my own, better version of it." He then added with an embarrassed blush, "I'll pass it on to my kids, it'll be a clan jutsu or something…"

"If anyone could do it, it's you, Naruto," Minato said with a prideful smile, ruffling his son's hair again.

"Thanks, Dad." Then turning to Kushina, Naruto grinned, "I'd love to raid my own clan's tombs, Kaa-chan, but I get the feeling you want to teach me chakra chains more." His parents shared another set of meaningful looks, prompting him to raise an eyebrow. "What? Is it something I said?"

"Yes and no, Naruto," Minato said vaguely.

"Don't confuse him, Minato," Kushina chided her husband with a playful slap on the arm. The Red Hot Habanero then smiled to her son, "We've noticed you're an extremely empathic person, Naru-chan. Like Minato said, we've been with you this entire time and we've seen things from a different perspective than you have."

Naruto looked profoundly confused, "I don't understand, Kaa-chan."

Kushina stroke his cheek. "It's okay, we didn't think you would, Naruto." She laughed softly in a very motherly fashion at his embarrassment. "It's nothing to be embarrassed about. Sometimes we don't notice things about ourselves others do. What your father and I mean is that you are naturally empathic to people around you, it's why they're drawn to you and you always find yourself in rather interesting situations."

Naruto then replied with a sour expression causing his parents to laugh. "Gee, Kaa-chan, it's not like I go looking for trouble- okay, maybe that's not true, but things don't always happen to me because I want them to."

"It's an interesting power, Naruto," Minato told him, "It's not a bloodline limit by any means, as neither I or your mother had one, but it's a strange trait about your Naruto. People are attracted to you, no matter what they do and eventually they change."

"What? No way, Dad that just sounds weird!"

"Weird like Takeshi Takezo?"

Any retort Naruto came up with died in his throat as the image of a crying Takezo apologized to him.

Kushina chuckled. "Your old man is very smart, Naruto. When he's right, he right."

"But- but-" Naruto closed his mouth to formulate a response and then spoke again. "That's just weird. I don't change people, how would that even work? If I did change people, then wouldn't Yugito have, I don't know, liked me earlier? I've been around her for years and she hated me until a few months ago."

Minato and Kushina laughed at that.

"What's so funny?" Naruto demanded with embarrassment. "It's not funny."

"Yugito may be a strange case, Naruto, but don't forget the people are you that have changed. Aside from the samurai, the Raikage changed as well, did he not? From what I remember, or _you_ actually, he used to be rather aggressive and impatient. Compared to how he is now, it's quite a change."

"Yeah, but he just got used to me pranking him all the time."

Kushina then decided to jump in. "Kirabi must have seen it in you, too, Naru-chan. He wouldn't have taken you along with him just because you're a jinchūriki, he must have known what the ramifications could have been. He's become like a father to you over the years hasn't he? Quite a big change from the quirky man he was all those years ago."

"Or that Emiko girl?" Kushina added. "My she was so pretty, you should look her up if things don't work out with Yugito."

"Kaa-chan!" Naruto knew he sounded extremely whiny but _some _things he wished his parents couldn't witness.

Still, Naruto had to admit his parents were making a very valid argument here. "I guess… there's something odd about me," he eventually admitted.

"Not odd, _special_," Kushina corrected. "You are _special_, Naru-chan, in more ways than you understand right now. But in a few years you will."

Naruto got red in the face again. "I guess-"

"Listen to your parents, Naruto," Minato said with a stern expression he could hold up for approximately five seconds before they all burst out laughing.

"So these things you want to teach me… are you going to teach them to me now?"

Kushina and Minato nodded to each other and then the latter spoke. "You'll find out as we leave, son. For now, let's just enjoy being together."

"Sure, Dad, Kaa-chan," Naruto nodded with a smile.

"I have a few favours to ask you, Naruto," Minato then added.

-ooo-

(Hokage Tower)

"Report!" the Sandaime barked at his ANBU operative. In only a few hours after he had been informed Orochimaru had infiltrated the village, there had been sightings of a giant snake summon, reportedly thirteen genin had been killed by said summon and three operatives had lost their lives in chasing the Sannin.

The boar-masked ANBU kneeled in a crouch and complied with the order. "ANBU squad one encountered Orochimaru of the Sannin in the Forest of Death. They did not see how it began, but apparently Uchiha Sasuke was fighting Orochimaru, lost and was saved by…" the operative trailed off.

"Who?" the Sandaime demanded.

"Former Konoha resident and jinchūriki of the Kyūbi, Uzumaki Naruto and his teammates of Kumo. They fought… admirably, however they were unable even land a hit. Orochimaru was playing with them until Uzumaki unleashed his bijū chakra," the ANBU gave the Hokage opportunity to interrupt and continued a moment later, "Orochimaru summoned several of his familiars but they were swiftly dispatched."

"All by Uzumaki Naruto?"

"No," the ANBU said, "He killed quite a few with his raw strength and ninjutsu, but his teammate used an interesting kenjutsu to take out one of the bigger serpents. Orochimaru quickly knocked them both out and he… seemed to have killed Uzumaki with the very same ninjutsu Uzumaki had used on his familiars. The Shippū Shūren I believe."

"Uzumaki Naruto was killed?" The ANBU shook his head, much to the relief of Hiruzen for emotional reasons and to the Sandaime for the political ramifications. "Then what happened?"

"It appeared Uzumaki Naruto was dead after Orochimaru used a seal on him. However other Kumo genin joined in and saved him and his teammate, at which time one team left and a kunoichi belonging to Uzumaki's team appeared. I believe she, too, is a jinchūriki," receiving a question glance the ANBU explained, "She overpowered Orochimaru in a stalemate with unusual chakra. While this occurred, more and more genin of multiple villages joined together to form a united front against the snake Sannin."

"They did? Interesting…"

"Yes, it was quite unusual. Apparently Orochimaru has made quite some enemies as they all attacked him, believing they could take him with numbers. They kept him on his guard for a few minutes before he summoned his largest summon yet. The snake had the ability to rain acid upon its enemies, forcing the genin to retreat although most died in the attack. I personally saw a Kumo genin die protecting to others… it was quite heroic."

"I see… continue."

"Orochimaru attacked Uchiha Sasuke and, we believe he implanted one of his Cursed Seals although we had no time confirm. Orochimaru's familiar was killed by Uzumaki Naruto not long after it was summoned although we have no knowledge how he was able to use chakra. Orochimaru was enraged by this and attacked Uzumaki Naruto and…," the ANBU looked at the Hokage tentatively.

"And what?"

"Orochimaru ran his blade through Uzumaki at least three times. We did not stop to inspect but last we saw him we was not in good shape."

The Sandaime's demeanour turned cold. "I thought you said Uzumaki was not dead."

"As I said, we did not stop to inspect his wounds," the ANBU replied, willing himself not to flinch under Kage's gaze. "He may still be alive."

"And why is it," the Sandaime's tone turned colder than ice, "That you waited for this all to conspire? Why did you not attack immediately instead of wait for this all to happen? You had orders to kill on sight, I believe Inu made you well aware of this."

The ANBU looked up to the Hokage and said, "Well quite frankly, Hokage-sama, it was our duty to take out Orochimaru not to be protect Uzumaki or any other genin. Even if we jumped in the fight, we would have sacrificed the element of surprise, which we eventually did. Orochimaru is not someone to be trifled with and because we were forced to give up the element of surprise he was able to not only escape but kill three of my operatives in the meanwhile."

"Take off your mask."

"Ho- Hokage-sama?" the ANBU sounded shocked. There were only a few occasions when an Kage asked his ANBU to remove their masks; the boar-masked ANBU felt a shiver of dread run down his spine as he realized what was about to happen.

"Remove. Your. Mask." The Hokage's tone was brazen as a blizzard and his eyes were unrelentingly harsh as he looked down on the ANBU.

"As you wish," the ANBU finally complied, unclasping the mask and revealing his face.

The Sandaime looked down upon the ANBU operative with short spiky auburn hair, pale complexion and brown eyes in his early thirties. This particular operative had served for almost five years as his captain of squad one.

"Squad one, under your command, Uchizoku Najimura, after failing to intervene and save the lives of thirteen aspiring genin as Orochimaru _slaughtered_ them despite having orders to kill on sight, did not only fail in neutralizing your target, but also failed coordinating your efforts along with squad two, _as you were ordered_, and allowed three ANBU operatives to die under your command?"

"Hokage-sama I-" the operative tried to argue.

"Tell me, Najimura, did the death of your family fourteen years ago affect your judgment when you realized Uzumaki Naruto was involved?"

"No."

Hiruzen sighed at first and his tone grew cold as the Saindaime spoke. "I don't believe you, Najimura." The Sandaime waved his hand and ANBU guards appeared out of nowhere, surrounding Najimura. "Uchizoku Najimura, you are hereby relieved from your duties as a captain and removed altogether from the ANBU program. You will be contacted shortly to determine your transfer to another department, however in the meanwhile you will be detained in order to protect the information you acquired in your years of service." The Sandaime then turned to his guards. "Take him away."

Three ANBU operatives surrounding Uchizoku Najimura nodded to the Hokage and grabbed onto the ex-ANBU captain's arms. The former ANBU did not resist and was dragged along, all the while looking unto the mixture of disappointment and anger on the Hokage's face, whom held the boar mask in his hand.

The Sandaime placed the boar mask on his desk and then pressed the button on his console and called to his secretary. "Suzume, be a dear and fetch me Hatake Kakashi."

_"Certainly, Hokage-sama."_

-ooo-

(Naruto's Mindscape)

It was hours later in Naruto's mindscape and the imaginary sun was going down, leaving the family under the hilltop sakura tree with an breathtaking scene as the petals fell down. Kushina sat next to Minato with the backs against the tree and Naruto nestled between them. It was the perfect scene of a loving family, snuggled close together as they continued to talk and talk for hours in order to catch up.

Minato had a lot of fatherly advice to give, some of which Kushina contested which in turn resulted in humours banter that rendered Naruto to a laughing and crying mess. Never in his entire life had he been _this_ happy. A part of him wished he had died so he could move on with them, but this had upset his parents who continued to emphasize they wanted him to live, find a woman he loved, have children and die happily of old age. It wasn't the life for most shinobi but Naruto promised them he would at least try to settle down before the age of thirty like his parents had done.

His parents were very interesting people, not simply because of their power but because of their personalities and quirks. Kushina was surprisingly very creative and even suggested a few new pranks he could pull on those that annoyed him. Apparently she had pranked Minato quite a few times when they were younger (Minato called it a 'creative way of expressing the sexual attraction' she was feeling for him, earning a bonk on the head for trying to 'corrupt' their son). Most importantly, Kushina had a few tips for him on women problems, which Naruto took to heart despite Minato's disputing. Kushina had the tendency to shout 'dattebane' at the end of her sentences when she was embarrassed or annoyed, a trait she expressed happily did not pass down to Naruto. Although her fiery temper did as Naruto and Minato both came to feel her wrath when they exchanged knowing glances whenever she added 'dattebane' to her sentences.

Minato was also exceedingly interesting and had told Naruto quite a few stories, a lot on the war but more so on the people he had known in his lifetime including the legendary Toad Sage and Tsunade (whom Kushina referred to as her surrogate mother) and his genin team consisting of Hatake Kakashi, a talented medic kunoichi Rin and a surprisingly cheerful Uchiha Obito. Naruto was mesmerized and listened the entire time, occasionally interrupting with sheer surprise and asking questions. Minato was also very literate and played the shamisen, an instrument he encouraged Naruto to try.

After hours of talking and eating 'food' which Naruto's mind still processed as filling him up, it was time for them to leave. It was time to say goodbye and Naruto couldn't help but burst into tears, as much as he tried not to.

"It's okay, Naru-chan," Kushina said soothingly, running a hand through his hair as she held him in a tight embrace. "We love you, too, Naruto, more than _anything_ in the world. We don't care whether you're protecting Konoha or Kumo, you're our son and we're proud of you. Thank you for letting us be your parents."

Minato embraced both of them lovingly. "We have to go now, Naruto, but we'll happily listen to you when you join us in, we hope, many years from now." Naruto nodded his head, too emotional to speak. "I have one last favour to ask you, Naruto."

Naruto looked up to his father with tearful eyes. What did his old man want him to do now? He had asked a few favours for him already, not that he would complain because he loved being of use to his father. "Sure, Dad."

"Never bottle up your feelings again, that is the last favour I ask of you son. I know this goes against what Kirabi told you, Naruto, but believe in me when I say that eventually the bottle gets full and its going to explode. You've met your dark-self already, Naruto, and one day you will have to face him before you can defeat the Kyūbi and take its power. You need to embrace everything within you, the good and the bad."

Naruto felt ashamed to ask but his curiosity got the better of him, no matter how weak he would sound. "But what if I fail? What if he's stronger than me?"

"He's not stronger than you, Naruto," Kushina answered. "He's just as much you as you are him. I never got along with the Kyūbi like Mito-baachan did, so I never became much of a jinchūriki, nor did I ever confront inner darkness… but _you_ have to, Naruto. The world you live in is dangerous, so much more now that the nations have recovered from the war. You'll need to confront yourself before you can confront those that stand in your way and those that want mean to hurt those you love."

"I- I'm afraid I'll lose," Naruto persisted. "That guy… the other me, he's so much different! He's strong…"

"And you're just as strong as he is and even stronger in many other ways. You know what it is to love, something the other you can't even begin to understand," said Minato reassuringly. "You're our son, I'm convinced you can do it, Naruto. You're going to surpass us after all."

Naruto's heart did a series of back flips as his father ruffled his hair and his mother smiled and nodded.

"We believe in you," Kushina added with another warm hug and kiss on his forehead.

Minato cleared his throat and placed his hands on Naruto's shoulder. "Naruto, we spent a lot of energy here with you. Initially I intended on using that energy to fix the seal should you ever rip if off completely. Now that we've spent all our energy, it falls on you to master the Kyūbi's power, Naruto. Before we leave, we want to impart you with some of our own knowledge."

"You're going to _give_ me your jutsu?"

Minato shook his head. "No, son, we're going to give you the theoretical knowledge to create your own. You said you wanted to become your own legend and I agree with you fully. I won't teach you the Hiraishin that earned me fame, but what I will give you is the theoretical knowledge behind it and my Rasengan. You should seek out my old sense and your godfather, Jiraiya. Even with his help it'll most likely take years for anything to come from it, but I'm confident you'll become a splendid shinobi, Naruto."

"Dad… I don't know what to say."

"'Thank you' should suffice, Naru-chan," Kushina said helpfully. She then cupped Naruto's face and kissed his cheeks, "Goodbye, Naruto, this is where we part. We'll see you on the other side, hopefully after many, many years." With a final kiss on his forehead, Kushina disappeared.

"Kaa-chan! I love you!" Naruto shouted, reaching out to her transparent form.

"I love you, Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto. You have made me so proud…"

Naruto dropped to his knees in tears, his brain searing with a sensation Kushina's final kiss had left him with. "Kaa-chan…" Naruto whispered tearfully. He then looked up to Minato who smiled kindly at him. "Dad, are you leaving too?"

Minato nodded, "I'm afraid so, son. Don't worry, we'll be waiting for you on the other side like your mother said. I'll be looking forward to hearing your stories, Naruto," Minato than sat on his knees, drawing Naruto in a crushing embrace. "I love you son. Goodbye." Minato kissed his son the forehead like Kushina had done before him and then he, too became transparent.

"I love you, Dad!"

Minato nodded with tears running down his cheeks. "I love you too, son."

And then there was one.

The beautiful landscape reverted to its usual grimy sewers and Naruto was left with a searing sensation in his mind.

**"THERE YOU ARE… WHELP… WHERE DID YOU GO?"**

Naruto tried to open his eyes, blinking uncomfortably as he looked into his reflection.

His blue eyes widened.

His eyes were now permanently slit.

"What the fuck-"

**"KUKUKU… THE BLASTED YONDAIME COULD NOT REPAIR ALL THE DAMAGE. LOOK BOY…"** the Kyūbi's voice boomed with laughter, making the water ripple.

Naruto, not entirely over his shock, looked up to the cage and his heart skipped _series_ of beats.

Three-quarters of the seal tag holding the Kyūbi remained.

"Oh no…"

* * *

**Author's Notes**

The quickest update ever.

Y'all went crazy with the last cliff-hanger so I had to get my butt in gear and write this chapter ASAP. I'd like to thank all of you who review: in less than a day I got 33 views for chapter twenty-two, that is phenomenal by _my_ standards. I'm getting exceedingly close to that dream of a 1000 reviews, so thank you and keep up the support. Helps me get my game on and write chapters quick. That, and they render me to farts-'n-giggles.

Quick question: to this day it absolutely baffles me nobody ever said anything about Naruto's surname. None of the older shinobi who MUST have known about their Hokage's relationship with Uzumaki Kushina who we are lead to believe was 'known for her beauty'. Fair enough, but nobody said shit about it the entire series. Not even Kakashi and he never gave a damn explanation why he kept quiet about Naruto's parentage. Not even Sakura who's incredibly book smart and knowledgeable on history picked up on it. Was there NOTHING in their books about what the spirals meant on the flak jackets worn by jōnin and chūnin? It simply baffles me. Let me know what you think.

Drop me a line or two, encourage me to spin out these bad boys quicker.

…

**Jutsu Used:**

_(Jutsu: Shippū Shūren – Hurricane Drills!) – B rank, offensive, short range. The user summons a large amount of chakra and, if needed, coats his appendages with chakra. Then, the user simply spins wind chakra around his arms. The spinning of wind chakra is only necessary for a few seconds. Afterwards, the wind chakra will continue to swirl around the arms. At this point, the tendrils vibrant at an extreme high frequency and screech loudly. The technique can then easily pulverize trees and shatter boulders. The true potential of this technique has yet to be met. **Derived jutsu:** Shippū Shūren: Dai Giri (Great Slash)._

_(Jutsu: Shippū Shūren! Dai Giri – Hurricane Drill! Great Slash!) - B rank, offensive, short to mid range. This jutsu is derived from Naruto's Shippū Shūren and was made up on the spot. Naruto will channel additional chakra into his Shippū Shūren to temporarily increase its length and sharpness tremendously for a swift cut. **Parent jutsu:** Fūton: Shippū Shūren (Hurricane Drill)._

_(Jutsu: Fūton! Yagura! – Turret!) – B rank, offensive, mid to long range. A jutsu first theorized by Naruto after learning the Crushing Gravity Palm technique. This jutsu requires the user to take a wide stance and pump chakra into his or her arms and punch the air at blinding speed all the while expelling chakra. Unlike its parent jutsu, the Yagura does not use palm thrust but rather relies on punches. **Parent jutsu:** Fūton: Akkai Genshuku (Crushing Gravity)._


	24. The Tower of Death

**Kumogakure Ninja**

Posted: 22-04-11

Updated: 28-06-11

* * *

CH24: The Tower of Death

* * *

Blue slit eyes and a three-quarter of a seal remaining had Naruto go on a frantic rant.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK!"

This couldn't be happening. No, this _wasn't _happening, Naruto decided with a stubborn nod. "This. Is. NOT. Happening!" he shouted closing his eyes and willing him to focus. "When I open my eyes they'll be the same as I remember them and the seal will be fixed. OK!"

His eyes opened. No good.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck-"

**"SILENCE, WHELP!" **the Kyūbi snarled. **"Cease your inane muttering, it is driving me insane!"**

"Well, I am _sooo_ sorry, great 'I can lick my own balls' Kyūbi!" Naruto offered sarcastically, blatantly ignoring the Kyūbi's angry snarl. "Okay, calm down, Uzumaki!" Naruto slapped himself in the face and ran his hands through his hair-

"OK, WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?" Naruto titled his head too view his reflection in the water. "My hair grew…" he noted dumbly, running his hand through his long, shaggy hair. "I got bangs!" Naruto felt the soft, wave locks in his hands and looked directly into the reflection.

He was met with the appearance of a much younger Namikaze Minato.

"Ah!" Naruto yelped falling backwards and scrambling away as far as he could. "KYŪBI WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING TO ME?" Naruto demanded pointing his finger at the Kyūbi. He then immediately noticed his arm was much longer and muscled than he remembered. Naruto jumped to his feet and looked down with wide eyes; he definitely was closer to the water before.

**"It appears the excess chakra has enhanced your growth by enabling your body to go into overdrive and speed up your growth hormone production," **the Kyūbi observed.

Naruto erupted with joy. "SWEET!" The prospect of no longer being a 'midget' came as a pleasant surprise to Naruto, his stature (or lack off) had always bothered him as it was an easy subject for others to mock him on.

The Kyūbi sniffed, sending a gale of wind at Naruto as it twitched its nose in disgust. **"TCHE! You have grown a few inches, Uzumaki Naruto, but you remain the same whelp you were before this all conspired."**

Naruto ignored him and did a spin, eyeing his reflection in the water below. He hadn't grown a whole lot, but at least he was as tall as Hari now, maybe even taller. He reckoned now stood at 5'9, considerably shorter than Minato was but taller than his mother at least (and Yugito, which definitely was a huge plus). Admittedly, now that he took a good look, he didn't _really_ look all that much like his father. His hair was the same, albeit shorter, and he retained his own facial structure, giving him a more youthful and energetic look. He sure as hell didn't look 'girly' or 'flaky' like his dad did in his youth, which was a _good_ thing. A very good thing.

"These eyes…" Naruto held his fingers inches away from his orbs as if he was using contacts. "Another result of the excess chakra?"

The Kyūbi merely nodded its gigantic head. **"Now that the blasted seal the Yondaime placed on you has partially broken, my chakra is seeping more freely into your chakra pathways and is mixing with your own. These may not be all the results of our mixed chakra, more may come over time. Likely, not all of them will be as pleasant or fortunate,"** the Kyūbi added with a sinister smile.

"Great," Naruto said sarcastically. These slit eyes reminded him too much of Orochimaru… "Henge!" A column of smoke later and he had his original eyes. "That's better."

The Kyūbi growled in its cage. **"I do believe it is time we talk, Uzumaki Naruto,"** the gigantic fox boomed. **"You undoubtedly have a lot of questions…"** the Kyūbi trailed off.

"Damn right I do," Naruto replied, turning his full attention on the Kyūbi. "I'm apparently the _Sandaime_ jinchūriki of the Kyūbi no Yokō… and _apparently _my _mother_ was the host before me. When were you planning on telling me this?"

**"When were you planning on conversing with me for longer than three minutes?"**

Naruto's eye twitched. "Fair enough, Kyūbi," Naruto conceded begrudgingly. "Kaa-chan told me her great grandmother was the jinchūriki before her and you actually got a long with her just fine. Why is that? Why did you give my mother such a hard time and why are you- no, I suppose I've got it coming."

**"Indeed you do, Uzumaki Naruto,"** the Kyūbi agreed. **"I despised your mother because she felt the same way about me. Uzumaki Mito was different…" the fox's tone turned nostalgic. "An angle who treated me as her equal and companion... whereas your mother was true demon. She-"**

"Okay," Naruto interrupted the fox. "If I ever hear you insult my mother again, Kyūbi, I'm going to make you suffer, is that understood?" Naruto was being unusually calm. He wasn't screaming, he wasn't pointing his finger; he was simply being calm and assertive. "My mother told me all about her chakra chains, a technique she learned from my great-great grandmother, or whatever Uzumaki Mito was to me... She imparted me with the knowledge and it won't take my long to learn how to use them."

**"Very well, Uzumaki Naruto. I will refrain from offending your mother... those damnable chains are capable of harming me, as you undoubtedly know by now,"** the Kyūbi exhaled deeply through its nostrils. **"Uzumaki Mito never used them to harm me when she could avoid it... your mother however was not as... gentle. She hated me as much as I hated her and tough she would not deliberately come here, she would punish me if I disobeyed her. Your mother was not a saint, Uzumaki Naruto, and that is it the truth."**

"Kyūbi, I apologise for my mother's behaviour," Naruto inclined his head. "No one deserves to be treated like you were and for that I apologise, both for my mother's actions and my own."

**"A little to late to reconcile, Uzumaki Naruto."**

Naruto smiled evenly. "You know, Kyūbi, I hated you to this very day because I thought you were a monster who only wanted to destroy those I care about and cause me pain," Naruto then added with a mirthless chuckle, "Though you didn't give me reason to think otherwise."

The Kyūbi held its silence.

"I now realise I was a hypocrite, Kyūbi," Naruto said hollowly. "I treated you the same way the villagers in Konoha treated me… hell, I did it longer to you than they did to me. I guess I am not much better than you are."

The Kyūbi bristled, flailing its tails erratically. **"What do you desire, Uzumaki Naruto? You speak kind words, but there must be a purpose to them. You cannot deceive me, Uzumaki Naruto, I am far wiser than you will ever come to comprehend. Do not try my patience, out with it!"**

"Just call me Naruto," Naruto replied. "And, I guess my purpose is still selfish."

**"HOW SO?"**

Naruto again chuckled mirthlessly. "If I'm being honest with myself, I'm only apologising to you so I can feel better about myself. I guess there's a part of me that wants to make you feel better too, but if I'm brutally honest… I'm being selfish here." Naruto was reminded of a few nights ago when he apologised to Yugito, although she had been the first to hit him.

**"You are not forgiven."**

"That's okay," Naruto said with a shrug. "I'm apologising for what I did, but I still hate you for killing my parents, Kyūbi. That won't ever change."

The fox remained silent.

"I saw their memories… I saw you killing my parents as they tried to protect me. You took sick pleasure in killing my mother and father, you… relished in it."

**"Do you expect an apology? If so, I assure you I have none to give. No matter how many times you strike me with those chains, I will not yield an apology."**

Naruto shrugged again. "I don't care if you apologise or not," Naruto replied. "I wanted to get all that out of the way so I can offer you a proposition."

"**Kukuku…"** the Kyūbi bared its massive fangs in a grin only a fox could be capable of. **"And what would this be? Do you seek vengenace on the one who truly murdered your parents? Do you wish to find Uchiha Madara?"**

"No."

**"No?"** the Kyūbi repeated with confusion. **"Are you still fooling yourself to have given up on hate?"**

Naruto shook his head. "I've seen my dark-self, Kyūbi, and there will be a day I'll have to confront him," Naruto told the beast. "But that's not tied to what I have in mind, nor is Uchiha Madara necessarily involved."

**"Then speak, I grow tired of your presence."**

'Hey, this is my mind, fur ball, don't get any bright ideas-' or so Naruto _would_ have _usually_ retorted. Instead he nodded and cleared his throat. He knew he would instantly lose the Kyūbi's respect, what little he had, if he gave in to petty remarks.

"I want us to start working as a team."

The Kyūbi fist began to chuckle, then it began to laugh and eventually it began to roar in laughter, shaking uncontrollably as it did so. It bared its teeth in a mocking smile and continued to laugh at him as if Naruto had cracked a humour joke. **"You wish to work together? That is the most humorous thing I have heard yet! HAHAHA!"**

Naruto clenched his fists, digging his nails into his palms. Being the 'bigger man' was tough, especially when you were being laughed at and mocked at the same time. "Don't push me, Kyūbi, I'm trying to move on from counterproductive hate."

**"You met your parents and now believe you have wisen up? Gained maturity beyond your years? BAH! Your arrogance offends me, Uzumaki Naruto. You and I will never have the bond I shared with Uzumaki Mito..."**

Naruto gritted his teeth, constantly reminding himself not to get angry. 'He's testing you, don't give in to his taunts. Stay calm,' he reminded himself, clearing his thoughts of negative emotions and taking a deep breath. "I don't want that kind of relationship, Kyūbi. Remember that I hate you and-"

**"I despise you…"** the Kyūbi finished.

Naruto nodded, "Indeed, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't work together."

**"What has prompted this sudden change, Uzumaki Naruto?"**

Naruto's smile was genuine. "My parents told me one day I would have to fight you as well as my dark-self for control. They told me I would have to come to control you at some point because the nations have recovered and it's possible a war could break out. I need your power to protect those I care for."

The Kyūbi again felt silent as if something Naruto had said triggered an old memory, of Uzumaki Mito perhaps. **"BAH!"** the fox finally boomed. **"I will cease resisting you as my host... but do not forget for one instant, Uzumaki Naruto, I will tear you to shreds the day you come to challenge me for dominance. These bars will have to open and when they do..."**

"I'll be ready for you, Kyūbi," Naruto said with a challenging smirk. He then turned around to leave the Kyūbi, "I'll come back to speak with you in a few days and we can get started. I have some apologising to do and a few errands to run for my old man."

**"As you wish."**

Naruto turned around to the Kyūbi. "In the meanwhile, enjoy the new scenery."

As Naruto left his mindscape, the grimy sewers turned into the very same park Naruto had visited with his parents.

-ooo-

(Forest of Death)

Yugito blinked hard, forcing herself to stay awake, her hand entwined with Naruto's as she sat next to his unconscious form, looking down onto the peaceful expression on his face. With her free hand she move his bangs aside, swallowing thickly as she fought fatigue. She had drifted off earlier and woken up to raised voices of her fellow Kumo genin as they pointed out what was happening. Yugito had been asleep when his body and hair grew considerably.

It was hours later now and it was just team Kirabi, team Manako and team Kodama. The latter of the three had lost a teammate not a day ago. It was a horrible affair and even now silence reigned for the most part of the cave. The last two members of team Kodama were sitting in a corner, next to the covered body of Hattori Zenzō, the timid genin had died protecting them… Hari was currently taking a power nap in another corner to replenish his chakra after taking several tonics to get the replenishing pills out of his system. Kenichi was out on guard, using his earth jutsu to blend in with the environment. Taiko and Kenji sat close to the exit; the former in the latter's lap as they leaned against the wall and silently enjoyed the comfort they gave one another. It made Yugito long for something like that. This whole ordeal had her realize how much Naruto meant to her. As soon as he woke up she would-

Naruto's hand held onto her own a little tighter.

"Na- Naruto?"

A excited shriek escaped Yugito as Naruto sat up. "Hari!"

-ooo-

'Air!' Naruto's mentally screamed. "UOUAGH!"

Waking up after being clinically dead for twenty minutes was a rather strange- no fuck that, a downright otherworldly experience. First thing Naruto noticed was the fact he couldn't see. He was sure he had his eyes open, yet the world was dark. Furthermore, his sense of hearing was nonexistent. It was quite gone as he could still hear very faint echoes in the distance but they were too soft to be coherent. Lack of oxygen had his brain shut down along with all of his senses to some degree. Fortunately he could still taste the coppery flavour of blood in his mouth and he could feel the soft ministrations of the woollen blanket blades beneath his palms.

He could also feel the tight embrace he was in and he could smell lilacs. Only one person he knew smelled of lilacs... "Yugito." His senses were regaining their acuteness; Naruto could hear how raspy he sounded. Naruto desperately attempt to raise his arms and wrap them around her but to no avail. Right now, at this very minute, every fibre in his being _hurt._ His limbs felt like led, his eyes were slowly receiving blurry images at best and his senses were still very much impeded.

_"Naruto!"_

_"Hey, Naruto can you see me? Hello? Okay, we need you to lay down Naruto. Come on, pal."_

He was couldn't see yet he had his eyes wide open, he could tell from Yugito's gasp. Naruto tried to speak but before he knew it, he was laying down, Hari hovering above him with a concerned expression and Yugito was still holding his hand. "Nghn…" was all Naruto could say before Hari jammed a vial of liquid down his throat.

Naruto felt the reassuringly squeeze in his hand by Yugito and complied, swallowing the liquid. It was tasted of peppermints and left a pleasant burning sensation in his throat. Naruto then found his voice again, finally. "I can't see."

"Is it because of-"

"No, it's hypotension," Hari reassured her and then focused on Naruto. "Naruto, buddy, you're suffering from hypotension. It's not serious, you just need to remain calm, alright? You'll be able to see again soon, once we get your heartbeat regulated and raise your blood pressure."

Hypotension was a nuisance, Naruto soon came to hate. It caused him chest pains, stiff joints, low blood pressure, a loss of vision and severely diminished senses. Luckily, Yugito hadn't let his side once, and refused to rest when Taiko, Kenji, Hari _and_ Naruto had told her to.

"No, I'll go to sleep once I know you're okay," Yugito said assertively. "Don't even bother convincing me otherwise." Catching the exchange of knowing looks between Taiko and Kenji she growled, "What is it?"

"Nothing," they replied simultaneously.

Naruto's nose twitched. "I smell something sour… something acid." The silence that followed unnerved him. "What- what is it? Did I say something wrong?"

Ayame burst into tears with a cry, muffled by the embrace Madao pulled her in as he 'shhed' her soothingly. Naruto tensed, feeling Yugito hold his hand a little tighter.

Hari was the first to speak. "Naruto, there's something you need to know… Zenzō's dead."

Naruto flinched. "What?" He got up, ignoring the screams of his aching body and Yugito's pull. With his growth spurt, he had gained more strength however he was oddly uncomfortable to move limbs larger than he was used.

"Na- Naruto!" Yugito called out to him, attempting to pull him back. There was no way anyone in Naruto's state of health could be moving around. Her attempts were futile as Naruto staggered off to the sound of crying.

Hari tried to stop him but with power Naruto did not know he was possessed he pushed the genin aside with such force he sent him flying into a sprawl on the ground. "Naruto!" Yugito called out to him, but the blonde was not listening. He simply continued to move in the direction of soft cries.

"Naruto!" Kenji shouted only to be ignored as Naruto continued to stagger onwards to acid scent.

As he stumbled, Naruto could smell the acid and hear the soft cries from a corner. He didn't know where he was but he could recognize the smell of ambers from none other than Shimura Ayame, Zenzō's teammate and his academy nemesis.

"Zenzō… where is he?" Naruto reached for his eyes and rubbed them desperation, _willing_ them to regain his vision. He needed to see this. He needed to confirm for himself whether a Kumo genin had died protecting his fellow comrades. He had to know if a _friend died protecting him in the battle against Orochimaru._

Responding to his urge, he felt a rush of familiar chakra to head. His eyes felt weird, a weird sensation crept to them and blurry vision came to him. As his eyes took their time to focus, he managed to get a blurred view.

A blanket was laid on top of a human-sized figure, sandals and fingers protruded from under the blanket. On each side of Hattori Zenzō were Shimura Ayame and Hasegawa Madao, both looking up to him with… _fear _in their eyes. Why did they look at him with such fearful expressions? Why weren't they look at Zenzō? Why were they looking at him? Naruto snarled angrily, dropping to his knees and reaching for the cloth hiding Zenzō's face.

Ayame's hand shot out and grabbed onto his with such strength Naruto would normally have winced.

"Don't you dare," she hissed, it was clearly reflected in her tearful eyes. "He died protecting us. The acid… we were- I was just trying to-" Ayame burst into tears, incapable of continuing her anecdote.

Madao snaked his arms under Naruto's and pulled him back rather forcefully as he growled. "That snake spat acid everywhere before you killed it. And Zenzō- he saved the both of us. We had no way of escaping, since Ayame sprained her ankle and I was trying to save her but… Zenzō ended up shielding us both with his body. He could have run… he could have survived but he _chose_ to save us instead." By now the tears were escaping Madao just as freely. "The acid did horrible things to him, Naruto. I won't let you lift that cloth. Zenzō always had self-esteem issues and he was- you know he was, always worrying about how he looked."

Naruto merely nodded as a profound sadness took him. "I'm so sorry," he croaked through the tears. "It's my fault… I shouldn't have gone to-" He felt absolutely wretched, hurt and filled with such sadness it was if he still had a huge hole in chest. Why couldn't Zenzō survive? Why did he die so easily, when Naruto had cheated death not once but _three times_ since entering the forest? _Three times! _'That snake… he killed him… Orochimaru killed him…'

Rage.

Naruto's blood began to boil and veins thickened on his skin.

Unbeknownst to Naruto, crimson chakra began to leak out of his every pore at such a rate Hasegawa screamed in pain and let him go. Naruto's outburst of chakra launched him backwards at such a speed he flew through the cavern. Fortunately for Madao, Kenji and Kenichi ran to intercept him and the latter of two raised a mud barrier that caught him in a soft brace midair. Yugito and Hari simultaneously dashed forward, both of them retrieving square tags with kanji for, 'Repression' on them. Naruto had not time to react and his teammates planted the chakra repression seals on to his back and forehead. The chakra cloak quickly began recede and soon enough Naruto was left standing hunched-back. Upon closer inspection it became clear he unconscious.

-ooo-

(Somewhere Tea Country)

Kirabi sheathed the last of his seven blades a she stood in a destroyed stronghold in the mountains of the _Cha no Kuni. _This base had been particularly hard to bring down and the assault had taken nearly three days. The Hachibi jinchūriki eyed the group of seven or so ANBU standing around two of their fallen comrades who had died in battle, they had used so much chakra they couldn't activate their self disposal jutsu to render their bodies into nothing the enemy could make use of. Kirabi swallowed hard and grunted, wiping the dirt of his forehead as he went to join them, paying his respects to his fallen comrades Dachō and Nezumi. The Ostrich and Rat masked operatives had been young and promising, allowed on this S-ranked mission because of their excellent sensory skills and medicinal knowledge.

'These Akatsuki pests are becoming more and more of a pain… Why doesn't anyone know who the leader is? I need a fuckin' drink.'

Kirabi had been on this mission for a few weeks now, he didn't know exactly how many, but it had been tiresome. This mission was vital however, the Akatsuki were growing stronger and stronger each day. Nobody knew what their true goal was, if they had any, other than serving as mercenaries for the smaller countries. Reports had indicated Iwagakure had made use of them and had set them with the task to attack Ishigakure's interest. These were all rumours but Kirabi knew they held some truths to them, after all the Hidden Stone was a relatively new village, an creation of the defectors that could no longer server under the Sandaime of Iwa after they had lost the war. Hidden Rock had at first attacked them, but soon other villages got involved, namely Konoha, who as Iwa's sworn enemies grasped any chance to support those that opposed the Hidden Rock. Gradually lesser villages became involved, some with relatively strong support as Kusa and some who were practically unknown as the Hidden Haze, Hidden Forest. Soon everything started to tumble and allies of allies became involved and at some point it looked like the Fourth Great Shinobi War could very well have kicked off _without_ the assassination of a noble, which usually had been the cause of many skirmishes and the First Great Shinobi War. Fortunately the Daimyō of _Tsuchi no Kuni_ had finally stepped in and ordered the Tsuchikage to stand down.

**'These pests are connected to the disappearance of the Nanabi, Kirabi. Be careful…'**

Kirabi nodded to no one in particular, his eyes still on the fallen ANBU operatives. 'I'm not afraid of those fools, ya'kna mean, it's cuz I is the Killa Bee-'

**'Silence, you fool! You can't rap to save your life,'** the Hachibi insulted. **'Focus, I'm not worried for your sake. I'm concerned for Naruto and Yugito. Those two have a long way to go before they're strong enough to defeat S-ranked shinobi the Akatsuki supposedly is lead by.'**

Kirabi nodded. 'You're right. We've only got two or three more of these strongholds to go. I'll be back for the finals, I hope.'

**'Remind me why Kumo is getting involved in this again. You didn't explain it to me very well.'**

'OK, listen up, mista chump-'

**'No rapping.'**

Kirabi face-faulted. 'Fine,' he conceded. 'These Akatsuki fools are getting involved in all kinds of shit. They're mercenaries who work for the highest bidder and since they don't swear allegiance to no one, they can do as they damn well please, or so they be thinking. They've been connected to several uprisings in countries, in some cases they even stab their original contractors, so whether it's the government or separatist factions that hire them, they don't care as long as they get paid.'

**'Filth, they do not care for the cause, just the gain.'** the Hachibi commented. **'These Akatsuki must be stealing contracts for the villages then, I presume?'**

Naruto nodded again, 'Nice catch, Hachibi-yo. Yeah, these guys take on any mission and since they don't have any moral compass or care for who they hurtin', they get a lot of attention. So, not only are they bringing the world in chaos, by aiding rebel and the government factions in civil wars, they're also stealing chunks of the job market.' Kirabi stopped for a handful seconds, allowing the Hachibi to take in the information. 'This ain't all they're doing, they're taking political assassination missions from corrupt officials, they're in the drug game and help spreading opium and other kinds of shit people snort or puff or whatever. Then there's them getting involved in piracy and blockades.'

**'They're capable of all of this on their own?'**

'These cats are big boys, Hachi-yo!' Kirabi replied. 'All we know right know is that the Akatsuki is rumoured to be lead by this guy named Kakuzu, some old dude who once fought the Shodaime Hokage as a Takigakure ninja and survived. This sounds fishy, since he should be dead cause he has to be over a hundred twenty years old or somethin'.'

**'Immortality is not impossible for humans, Kirabi. I have seen it on a few occasions myself.'**

Kirabi shrugged. 'I'm sure it isn't. Anyway, this leader, who _could_ be named Kakuzu, is involved with other criminal organisations. Hell, Akatsuki's at the top of the game and a lot of these organisations pay kick ups to them. These guys are thugs, bodyguards, whatever, as long as it pays. They even work with big dogs like Gatō and all that.'

**'How is Akatsuki connected to the disappearance of the Nanabi if they're just in it for the money. Did other villages pay for them to abduct the Seven Tails' jinchūriki to usurp more power?' **

'No,' Kirabi said with a shake of his head. 'The guys that were reportedly seen taking her wore black cloaks with red clouds. We think they're connected to Akatsuki cause the _alleged_ leader was spotted wearing a similar cloak. Hence why we think those with the cloaks are the top brass. So far we've heard reports of four and a few more rumours of wannabe's trying to gain fame by saying they're a part of Akatsuki when they ain't. Other villages are tight lip about these fools so we can't be sure our information is a hundred, ya'kna mean?'

The Hachibi bristled in his mindscape. **'Hurry back home. I'm even more paranoid now than before. You need to be there to protect those kids, you know they think of you like their father.'**

'Yeah…' Kirabi nodded. 'Speaking of which, Mabui-chan said she wanted kids at some point. I don't know if we're gonna last that long, but what do you think Hachibi?'

The Hachibi's response was cut off by an approaching Motoi, who still wore his mask. "Kirabi, we're going to head out."

-ooo-

(Forest of Death)

Naruto woke up hours late to a world of severe discomfort. It wasn't pain he was feeling, but rather extremely stiff limbs, which greatly annoyed him as it impaired his movement. Luckily his senses had recovered and he was pleasantly surprised to find himself lying next to Yugito. She was fast asleep and ignorant to his awakening, so Naruto just laid there and watched her sleep, subconsciously aligning his own breathing with hers.

'Why haven't I ever noticed she's so beautiful?'

That wasn't _entirely _true as he had established months ago he was attracted to her physically, but now, even when she was covered in dirt and blood stains, her hair was a mess and the bags under her eyes were dark she was _beautiful._ It was mesmerizing. Naruto's eyes trailed down her body and with a frown and a strong sense of guilt he traced his finger of her S-shaped scar on her hip, noting how it felt like leather compared to the rest of her silky smooth skin.

"I'm sorry," Naruto whispered.

Yugito stirred in her sleep, her lips parting ever so slightly, it gave Naruto goose bumps just _watching _her. Yugito was so serene and angelic in her sleep, it made her very _desirable._

A deviant idea came to Naruto's mind. 'No, you're crazy, she'll kill us!' his mind shrieked at him as he moved closer. 'OK, if she fries our balls it's all on you!'

Naruto cupped her cheek with his hand and leaned in close. His lips met hers in a soft and tender kiss, ever so gentle. Yugito's eyes fluttered and her blue eyes widened as she met his, but before she could break away Naruto pressed his lips further onto her, prompting her to wrap her arms around his neck and close her eyes, tilting her head slightly. As Naruto deepened the kiss, he noticed how she trembled in anticipation. It was very innocent way of her conveying she wasn't really experienced at this. Their previous kisses had been quick, chaste and never deepened for longer than a few seconds. This time there wasn't a life threatening incident to prompt it either, just a regular kiss between a boy and girl who now undoubtedly knew they liked each other.

Naruto thoroughly enjoyed the fact she was being so... _submissive._ It was totally out of character for her and he loved the fact he was making her feel this way. Neither of them was really experienced, although Naruto had gone a few steps ahead in previous experiences with a certain girl from _Ritoru Haaku _and she must have noticed him being a little more experienced as she was allowing him full control.

Eventually, Naruto broke away with a huge grin, a grin Yugito met with her own beautiful smile.

"Peaches."

Yugito raised an eyebrow. "Hmm?"

"You taste like peaches," Naruto replied with his grin unwavering. "I never noticed until now."

Yugito blushed bright red. "You... taste like oranges."

Naruto found her blush irresistibly cute and brushed her nose with his own. "I like peaches," he said and promptly kissed her again.

The kiss didn't last longer than ten seconds but it was still very much enjoyable. Yugito's blush increased and her cheeks reddened under Naruto's touch as he cupped her chin.

"I'm in love with you," Naruto said to her with a huge smile. His voice was unwavering; he spoke with confidence and with a supreme sense of happiness. "I guess I have been for a while now that I think of it."

Yugito gaped, not sure what to say. She opened and closed her mouth a few times but then settled for, "Wauw."

"I know, right?" Naruto chuckled. "You don't have to say anything-"

"I'm falling for you," Yugito blurted out. It came out in a very cute manner, sounding nervous but earnest at the same time. Embarrassed by the way she had said it, she decided to silence Naruto's laughter with another kiss.

When they broke away for some air she said with a cute giggle-like laugh, "I like oranges."

Naruto ran his hand through her hair as he did to him. "I spoke to my parents," he said casually, enjoying the shock etched onto her face. "I'm not crazy, Yugito. They left a tiny portion of their soul and chakra with me in case I ever tried to take off the seal."

"What?" Yugito finally managed in a low hiss. "You tried to take off the seal?"

Naruto nodded and yawned. "It's a long story."

"Explain," Yugito commanded.

Naruto leaned in and kissed her cheek. "You know, I never said this before because you'd probably kill me, but I think it's _sexy_ when you boss me around. I guess it's one of the reasons why I'm into you."

Yugito blushed but she didn't waver. "Explain, _Naruto._"

And explain he did.

It was twenty minutes later when he finished speaking, giving her the important details of what had happened and leaving out only the stories he had been told and the favours his father had asked him.

"The seal is going to get gradually weaker now, Naruto," Yugito said with worry. "We need to let Kirabi know of this."

Naruto nodded to her but kept his content smile as he reached over to her.

"Wh- What are you doing?" Yugito asked as he pulled her in closer.

Naruto pulled Yugito into an embrace as they lay down. He leaned down, loving the fact he was taller than her, and kissed her passionately. His brain was overloading with a powerful sensation as he could feel Yugito's luscious, full lips return it with vigour.

"I, ehm..." was all Yugito could manage.

"I'm sorry," Naruto didn't know why he was apologising.

Naruto kissed her on the head. "Will you be with me, Yugito?" he whispered.

Yugito didn't the answer the question entirely. "Naruto, this is all happening so fast. I'm sorry, I just don't know yet."

"Don't be," Naruto said with a chuckle. "We can take it slow. I know I like kissing you, and I know you like kissing me too but there's more to a relationship than that, isn't there?"

Yugito yawned tiredly and began to nod off again as fatigue took her. Naruto pulled her into a closer embrace, allowing her to rest her head on his chest as he felt sleepy himself.

-ooo-

Hours later Naruto woke to the sound of suppressed laughter and sniggering. Peeling open one of his eyes the found Hari laughing with a face-splitting grin. Naruto blink hard, a few times in fact and then realised why.

He had his arm around Yugito still and she was still fast asleep, _drooling_ a little on his chest. Naruto did the most reasonable thing he could think of that moment and met Hari's grin with a shrug and then kissed Yugito on her head.

Hari's eyes bulged, having though he had walked in on an accident but seeing Naruto kiss Yugito so casually had him mouth, 'When did this happening?' Naruto didn't reply and gently wedged himself out of Yugito's arms and staggered to his feet, still feeling rather disorientated he fell forward but Hari was there to catch him.

"Thanks," Naruto said as Hari helped him stand up straight. "This growth spurt is a major pain. This body doesn't even feel like mine, it's too awkward and heavy."

"Are you two together now?"

Naruto shook his head. "No, she wants to take it slow. It's fine though, I can wait till. She said she's falling for me but it's complicated."

"I'm glad for you two, it's about time, honestly," Hari said earnestly. "I could tell she was into you before this mess started but it grew stronger when you were, you know, stuck in limbo. She didn't leave your side once, Naruto."

"A lot happened," Naruto said vaguely.

Hari eyed him curiously, "Ahuh," the medic replied, immersed in thoughts. "OK, I'm a little confused here, Naruto. Just a few hours ago, I was pretty sure you were dead as you didn't have a _pulse _and you _weren't breathing._ Then you suddenly came back to life, your hair grew, your eyes turned into slits and you're at least three inches taller- you might even be taller than me. Not to mention now you're 'sort of' with Yugito? How did all of this happen? Start with how the _fuck _you're still alive."

"It's a long story, but to answer the first question, I have a _sort of_ bloodline limit."

Hari eyed Naruto with a deadpan expression. "That worked in Ritoru Haaku, Naruto, and I already know about the Kyūbi. Did you manage to get brain damaged from, I dunno, _not breathing for over twenty minutes?_" Hari hazarded dryly.

"Well, it's not a bloodline limit, technically."

"You're confusing me here."

Naruto sighed heavily. "It's got something to do with my clan, not the Kyūbi. I just found out my clan was known for their longevity and vitality. We apparently grow old as fuck and our bodies take a ton of damage but in some cases, especially if you're a jinchūriki, we can survive all kinds of shit."

"Eh?" was Hari's intelligent reply.

And so with heavy, heavy sigh began to explain what had happened in his mindscape. Hari was sceptical at first and at some point just started diagnosing Naruto for brain damage and delirium as the story got wilder and wilder. Eventually, and much to Naruto's relief, Hari stopped the diagnosing but he wasn't convinced to say the least.

"OK, so let me get this straight... You're the son of the _Yondaime Hokage_, one of the _greatest_ shinobi to have ever lived and your mother's some babe-"

"Hey!" Naruto warned him.

"-who was the jinchūriki before you, but not the first as there was another jinchūriki before her, your great-_great_ grandmother? OK, then you said the Kyūbi actually _liked_ the first jinchūriki but not you or your mother because of obvious reasons and because of... chakra chains, was it?_ Then,_ before they left, the Yondaime gave you the Hiraishin and your mother gave you the knowledge to create chakra chains of your own?"

Naruto's eye was twitching. "Yes, in a very simplified way, that's what happened."

"I see," Hari then promptly went through a few hand seals and started his diagnosis jutsu again. "You're creeping me out, I'm going to keep looking for head trauma."

Naruto shoved his hand away. "Hari, I'm serious," Naruto quickly lowered his voice seeing Yugito stir, "I'm not crazy. How would I even come up with this shit?"

"How did you come up with paint tags? I remember Raikage-sama chasing you through the entire village," Hari shot back. "He chased you down the corridors in the academy, covered in pink and orange, remember?"

Naruto sweat-dropped. "Okay, fair enough, but I'm seriously not lying about this- oh hey, Yugito."

Yugito sat up out of bed looking like hell but smiling nonetheless. "What time is it?"

"Eight," Hari answered, looking concerned at her dishevelled and tired appearance.

Naruto turned to Hari, "I'll prove I'm not lying." Naruto strode over to Yugito who raised an eyebrow as Naruto cupped her cheeks and then gave her a chaste kiss.

Upon seeing Yugito return the kiss slowly and a little awkwardly, Hari's jaw dropped.

"What's going on?" Yugito looked from Naruto to Hari.

"He didn't believe me when I told him what I told you."

Yugito poked him hard in the side. "Don't kiss me to prove a point."

"Sorry," Naruto offered apologetically. He then eyed Hari with a satisfied smirk, "See? I told you I wasn't crazy. Everything I told you really did happen."

Hari opened his mouth to argue but was promptly cut off by another voice.

"Naruto!" Taiko woke up and sat up. "What are you doing out of bed- Hari, what's he doing out of bed?" Her eyes widened as she took in his new appearance, slit eyes and all. "What happened to you?"

"It's a long story," Naruto, Hari and Yugito replied simultaneously.

-ooo-

Two hours later after everyone had woke up and had their fill of food and shock at seeing Naruto walking about, they decided to break camp. Kenichi and Kenji were covering up their tracks as Taiko went to a nearby stream and filled their canteens. Yugito and Hari stood waiting by the cave's exit as Naruto approached team Kodama with a large scroll he had unsealed from a smaller one. Naruto's entire torso was wrapped in gauze and he had yet to change, finding lifting his arms still very painful. It was only a small hike to the tower anyway.

"You want to do _what_ with Zenzō's body?" Madao demanded.

Naruto held up the scroll. "We're going to the tower today and none of us want to leave his body behind, right?" Madao and Ayame merely nodded. "We'll save ourselves a lot of time by sealing Zenzō's body in here. It'll be perfectly safe and if you want, you can keep it with you.

Ayame answered before Madao could, "He'll be safe, right?"

Naruto nodded. "He will be saver in here and he'll be easier to transport. The sooner we get to the tower, the sooner we can properly burry him and pay our respects." Naruto was doing his absolute best to stay mature and calm.

Madao then nodded in agreement and nudged Ayame to agree with him. "Alright," he said, "You can do it, but we're holding onto that scroll," Madao demanded fiercely.

"Of course," Naruto nodded reassuringly. "Please stand back a litte," Naruto instructed and they did, backing up only a little but was enough space for Naruto to unfurl the foot long in width scroll and place it over Zenzō. "Fūin!"

With a _poof_ Zenzō's body disappeared and the scroll glowed lightly for a moment. Naruto rolled the scroll up and passed it to Madao. "I'll be there with you when we get there to unseal him, okay?"

"Thank you..."

Naruto shrugged, trying not smile unconvincingly. "It's okay to be sad you know..."

"Have you lost anyone?" Ayame asked in a whisper.

A phantom pain struck Naruto's heart and he nodded. "I lost two of the most important people to me very recently... it still hurts when I think of them... and of Zenzō too..."

"He always looked up to you, Naruto," Ayame said, force once referring to him by his first name. "He always used to say he called you senpai because he wanted to be just like you... strong and wild. I thought he was an idiot but it looks like he did go out the way he wanted, you know?"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head, unsure what to say. Madao excused him however, and pulled Ayame aside. "Come on, let's get our stuff ready."

"You handled that well," Yugito reassured him as she caught his distressed expression once he returned to them.

"Yeah, you did," Hari agreed.

"I did?" Naruto repeated, "I was trying my hardest not to cry. I mean... Zenzō was one of the nicest guys I knew..."

They nodded understandingly; well aware the deceased genin had looked up to Naruto quite a bit when he was still alive.

"I owe you two an apology," Naruto said after a moment of silence.

Yugito and Hari shared a look before she asked, "What for?"

"For everything that's happened these last few days. Ever since this exam started I've been nothing but a show off and I kept getting us into trouble. What, with me rushing off to play hero all the time, getting myself stabbed half a dozen times between that Iwa kuniochi and Orochimaru... I shouldn't have gone to save Sasuke. Hell, he's not even here to thank me is he?"

"Naruto..." Yugito started.

"No," Naruto replied firmly. "I _know_ my intentions were good and I know you're not angry at me because of that... but you should be. I deserve to have you guys angry at me. I endangered you and Hari countless times since we got here and it's time I grow up."

His teammates fell silent, not knowing what to say so he continued. "I am trying, I really am. I want to do better; I want you two to be safe, now more than ever. From here on out, no more jokes... well not all the time," he finally added with a grin to let them know he was still the same Naruto to some extent. "It's just time I stop being a stupid kid all the time, you know? Don't give me that look, please, guys, you know it's true just much as I do."

Hari opened his mouth to reply, an angry expression on his face but as he spoke Taiko once again interrupted him.

"Guys, we're leaving. Time to go!"

Naruto checked the pouches hanging off his utility belt and nodded. "Let's go."

-ooo-

The trip to the _Tower of Death_was mostly uneventful. Taiko held up a genjutsu till they reached their destination as it was very common for some contesters to ambush others close to the tower to steal the scrolls they had and to eliminate as many contesters as they could. They walked two by two in four rows with three feet space between them to avoid setting off traps.

For the most part, Kenji kept Taiko company as she lead the convoy with Madao and Ayame next, whom were very quiet for the most part. Hari and Kenichi walked behind them, being quite a formidable duo with Hari's extraordinary sensory abilities and Kenichi's quick use of Doton jutsu for defences. The last two were Naruto and Yugito, who were also silent but rather were enjoying each other's company and exchanging a few words.

It was strange for Naruto- no it was downright _otherworldly_ how things had changed. Before the second stage, he and Yugito were on friendly terms, they weren't very close but friends nonetheless. Now they were in the beginning of a new relationship. Before the second stage he had been brash and provocative, wanting to fight as many people as he could. He certainly didn't feel the need to test his limits now, and not just because he was still very sore and banged up but because he finally realised what a fool he had been.

He glanced at Yugito, she didn't notice, but he was fine just watching her as though she was some magnificent creature he had never seen before. Naruto gave her hand a squeeze to let her know she was on his mind. Yugito for her part was a little unnerved by his intense gazed and blushed, it wasn't as bright before but it was still cute he noted as she squeezed his hand. Naruto didn't peg her to be comfortable with public display of affection and kept it at a minimum, though he did decide he wanted to take her out on a date as soon as this was all over. She deserved a wonderful night, even if she tried to protest otherwise.

'What would she like to do on a date?' Naruto wondered. 'It definitely can't be a restaurant, that's way too cliché... Should I ask her- no that would be stupid. It's one of those things I would just have to _know_, or so Kaa-chan mentioned. Then again…' A fond smile crept to his face. 'Dad did say it was unreasonable for any man to just _know_ what a woman was thinking. Damn, why is this so hard?' Naruto frowned, an expression that did not go unseen by Yugito.

"Something wrong?" she asked quietly.

Naruto gave her a reassuringly smile. "No, just thinking I'm going to have to cut my hair soon, it's getting annoying and keeping up this Henge is a waste of chakra," he lied to which she nodded, although she did eye him for a moment too long to believe him. "It's nothing important, Yugi-chan," Naruto added a kiss on her cheek.

Yugito raised an eyebrow, "Yugi-chan?" she repeated. "I'm not calling you Naru-chan or Naruto-kun, it doesn't suit you."

"I know it doesn't, but Yugi-chan _does_ suit _you_, it's cute," Naruto then whispered in her ear, "You're very cute when you blush, Yugito, it's _irresistible._" The way Naruto whispered it into her ear got him another blush, a bright red one. He was marveling at how cute it was and was about to make a comment when Yugito elbowed him in the ribs.

"Whatever you're trying to do, stop it."

"I'll need some convincing," Naruto said playfully.

He was pleasantly surprised when Yugito eyed the others first, and upon noting they weren't looking their way, she turned and planted a chaste kiss on his lips. His eyes didn't even close before she pulled away and dragged him along to keep up the paste. Naruto just went along with it, smiling like an idiot as he did so.

-ooo-

"We're here," Kenji announced.

They stood thirty yards away from the _massive_ tower known as the _Tower of Death_. It was simply _huge_, easily standing at fifteen stories high and over a hundred meters wide. The building was truly a fortress as it once had been in the First Great Shinobi War, the only Great War that had been fought on Konoha's turf as well as others'. The tower still served as a stronghold, many decades later, and was actually a building used by Konoha's ANBU and Hunter Nin squads for both training and interrogation, although those facilities along with the intelligence facilities were understandably off-limits for them.

"It's huge," Taiko exclaimed with a tired sigh. Upholding a genjutsu strong enough to hide eight people for over two hours had taken it out of her.

"This is where we split up," Naruto sounded like he was asking rather than announcing. The others nodded so he turned to Ayame and Madao tried to sound as gentle as he could, "You guys want some time alone, I can tell," they looked at each other but Naruto only nodded understandingly, "I'll create a clone to escort you inside and to unseal… Zenzō once you're ready. My clone will immediately cancel itself once you tell it to leave, okay?"

"Thank you," Ayame said with a tearful nod.

"Yeah, thanks."

Naruto shook his head. "Zenzō was our comrade, too, he wasn't just a member of team Kodama, he was a member of team Kumo," Naruto then said through gritted teeth, "I won't swear vengeance, he wouldn't have wanted us to get caught up in it… but what I do promise is that I'll _remember _his death the next time I come across Orochimaru. You have my _word_, I won't hesitate to kill that snake-"

Unfortunately this caused Ayame to burst out into tears, it was surprisingly (and understandably) out of character for the tomboyish girl who had been an emotional wreck for the past few days. Naruto swallowed hard, unable what to say to her and then just turned to Madao instead and returned his nod. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." A column of smoke later and Naruto merely looked at his clone, which then turned to Madao, jumped up and transformed into a kunai midair.

Madao caught it and eyed Naruto with confusion.

"A precaution in case they ask questions," Naruto answered his questioning look. "We're not on the same team, they wouldn't let us in together. Just… tell it to do its job once you've done whatever it is they ask you to."

"Thanks… Naruto."

Naruto flinched. "Don't thank me… please don't see this as a favour," Naruto said quietly, almost a whisper. "Zenzō was my friend too. We weren't as close as you three, but he was still my friend and I _will_ mourn him with you. We all will."

The other genin wordlessly nodded, both surprised with Naruto's sudden calm, level-headed maturity and agreeing full heartedly with his words.

Ayame then stepped forward and embraced Naruto into a crushing hug, "Thank you," she whispered and then promptly kissed him on the cheek. She was blushing, but Naruto didn't notice as she quickly turned around and grabbed Madao by his hand and walked off with him.

Naruto touched his cheek ever so lightly and then turned to Yugito, smiling apologetically but she shook her head, indicating she was fine with it and then walked off to another entrance on the building, leading her team as Taiko, Kenji and Kenichi went their own way.

"See you guys in the finals!" Naruto called out to them.

Kenji and Kenichi waved back, "You bet on it!"

-ooo-

(Inside the Tower of Death)

Naruto stood in a wide room with doors on the other side, it was devoid of everything but lighting. None of the other genin were here, neither were there chūnin waiting for them. Puzzled he looked around him, raising an eyebrow as he wondered what was going on.

Yugito frowned, "Hand me the scrolls, Hari," she ordered and he did so. Yugito laid the scrolls out and unclipped them one by one. "Let's try channelling chakra through one," and she did. The results were instant as she channelled her chakra into their Earth scroll.

The Earth scroll glowed brightly and the Heaven, Light and Darkness scrolls began to glow. Yugito pushed them out to unfurl their entire length and the Kanji on the scrolls turned liquid and seeped together to form one large seals pattern above the scrolls. It was an ingenious piece of Fūinjutsu Naruto came to realise as a column of smoke emitted from the seals pattern on the concrete floor, followed by a _poof!_

"A teleportation seal?" Hari gasped. "I didn't know those existed."

Naruto frowned as the smoke began to clear, "No, that would be too convenient. It's gotta be a beacon or something-" Naruto fell silent as a Konoha chūnin appeared before them. "You again?" It was one of the chūnin he had ran into before, his hand was still wrapped up in bandages.

Kamizuki Izumo face-faulted, "This has to be some joke!" the chūnin exclaimed, "Why do I get the crazy one?"

"Hey, I'm not above breaking your other hand to prove a point!" Naruto shot back. "Er, sorry," he quickly amended catching the death glares Hari and Yugito were shooting his way. "In all fairness, you threw the first punch."

Izumo sweat-dropped, it was a fair point. "OK then," the chūnin coughed, shifting into serious expression. "You have successfully obtained all four scrolls needed to pass on to the third stage of the exam. Before I let you three move on, I have to explain the meaning of these scrolls."

"The meaning?" Hari repeated.

"He means what they stand for, Earth, Heaven, Light and Darkness," Yugito answered. Then turning to Izumo she gave a small bow, forcing her teammates to do the same. "We'll be glad to hear what you have to teach us."

"Er… yeah, sure." Naruto grunted noncommittally.

"Right," Izumo said eyeing him dryly, he then turned his attention and smiled at Yugito, at least the pretty kunoichi was being polite. "The entire purpose of the second stage of the Chūnin Exam is to realise your own potential and your own lacking. The four scrolls symbolise the four most important elements of the shinobi world." Izumo coughed again. "Heaven symbolises the mentality and intelligence of a shinobi, if you are intelligent you are aligned with Heaven if you're not, seek to be as the best shinobi are as strong mentally as they are physically. Intelligence is key, without it you will fail. The Earth scrolls represents the physicality and the strength of a shinobi. Intelligence and power are just as important as each other, the wise shinobi will seek to balance these two the best of his abilities."

Team Kirabi nodded, they all had a good balance of intelligence and strength.

"The last two scrolls were added this year due to the high amount of genin participating and because of recent… issues between governments. The Light and Darkness scrolls represent the integrity of a shinobi. Do you take joy in killing your enemy? Or do you take pride in serving your village and country? The shinobi world is not for the faint hearted, you will see bad things happening. At some point, should you survive until then, you will be the one causing these dark deeds. That is what it means to be a shinobi, to sacrifice not only your body but your soul. The foolish shinobi will stick to either Darkness or Light, the good shinobi will realise the lines between good and evil are blurred on the battlefield."

Team Kirabi nodded, understanding most of what the chūnin was saying.

Izumo wasn't doing a good job at this and it was showing, but the chūnin pressed on. "Let me put it this way," he tried again, "Light represents the good of a shinobi's deeds, protecting their village, doing the bidding of the commanders, inspiring the next generation and so on. Darkness is the element within the shinobi world that represents the… _distasteful _aspects of being a shinobi. To kill, to torture, to manipulate, to maim… these fall under the mandate of each and every shinobi that serve their village faithfully. A good shinobi maintains a balance of all four; intelligence, strength, good and evil. It falls on you, and nobody else, to find your balance, to become the shinobi you want to be." Izumo then finally said, "The purpose of the second task was to show you what you and others are capable of. Many terrible things happen, especially to kunoichi, in these exams."

Naruto tensed, knowing exactly what Izumo meant.

"From those expressions, I can tell you've experienced a lot of the things I'm talking about," Izumo observed. "Then I suppose my job here is done. You have seen for yourself what the battlefield is like. I have nothing else to teach you, you are free to move on."

And team Kirabi did, quickly. They did not say a word as they walked past Izumo and entered through the double doors.

…

An hour later Naruto laid on his bed looking at the ceiling and going over all that happened in the past few days. He was tired, he wanted to sleep but he couldn't. Perhaps a mental block was causing his inability to sleep, though he hadn't tried very hard to fall asleep either.

Yugito and Hari were off to get some food from the cafeteria, he wasn't hungry. Earlier he had felt a tug as his mind and the memories of his Kage Bunshin reached him. Ayame had stopped crying, thankfully.

'Dad… Kaa-chan… what the hell is going on?' Naruto sat up and ran his hand through his hair, thinking he really would have to get a haircut soon. He cancelled the Henge as soon as he entered their assigned room.

The door opened and Yugito walked in, Hari was nowhere in sight. "Hari's off to talk to Miyabi, suspect there's more going on though," Yugito explained as Naruto closed the door behind her and she placed a tray of food on the nightstand.

"Good, I wanted to talk to you in private," Naruto reached into his pouch and flung a privacy seal at the door.

"What is it?" Yugito asked, sitting down next to him on the bed and pulling the night stand in front of them to serve as a table. "You seem distracted."

Naruto circled his arms around her thin waist and pulled her close.

Yugito tensed. "Are you having doubts about wanting to be with me?" she asked quietly.

"No, of course not," Naruto kissed her on the head. "It's just that a lot of things are happening incredibly fast. I wanted to know if you don't think we're moving too fast, Yugito," he tenderly rested his hand on hip.

Yugito felt a tingling sensation under the skin contact. "I'm not sure either. A lot of things have happened, and this relationship is one of them, but I _like_ being with you. I like kis- kissing you." Yugito hated herself for stammering, it was so undignified in her eyes and she usually spoke will utmost confidence.

Naruto lay down with Yugito and she rested her head on his chest. They lay silently for a few minutes, just enjoying each other's presence without having the need to talk. Yugito then sat up and reached for a sandwich off the tray, she took a bite and then fed some to Naruto whose stomach was growling.

"You need to eat," said Yugito. "Get your strength back up in the next two days."

Naruto eyed her curiously. "Go on a date with me."

"Eh?"

Naruto sat up and chewed on the last few bites she offered him. "I want to take you out on a date," Naruto repeated. "You want to take it slow, and that's fine, but could we have a proper date. Will you go out with me?"

Yugito didn't quite know what to say. She'd been asked out a few times– a lot of times before, mostly by academy students both younger and older than her and she had always replied with the same cold, passive 'no' but being asked out by someone she liked, someone she admitted was falling in love with, was a whole lot different.

"You can say no if you don't want to, Yugito," Naruto assured her. "I'll just keep trying till you say yes though," he said with an unconvincing smirk.

"Is that so?" Yugito raised an eyebrow with feigned curiosity, smiling as she did it.

Naruto nodded confidently with a supreme air of arrogance that did not suit him. "I'm sure you'll go out with me eventually, after who wouldn't want to go out with a handsome, dashing young man like me?"

Yugito laughed again and turned away, reaching for another sandwich. "We'll see where it goes, Naruto. For now let's concentrate on the exam. We've got a few days to go," Yugito said. "I'm not saying no, but I'm not saying yes either, at least not for now."

Yugito turned to look over her shoulder and found Naruto fast asleep and snoring loudly.

A tick mark appeared on her temple as she held up her hand and lightning sparked ominously.

-ooo-

Hari's pulled back his hand from the door lever just as he heard the shriek of lightning followed by Naruto's high pitched screams for mercy. Hari genin sweat-dropped and he promptly turned around. 'Best to let those two work it out,' Hari chuckled nervously, terrified at the thought of interrupting. 'Yep, this not your battle, Hari. Naruto's your best friend but do you really want to get electrocuted again, no? Then keep on walking, you know she attacks indiscriminately.'

Hari swallowed hard, shuddering as he remembered the last time he and Naruto were electrocuted by Yugito. "OK, off to Miyabi it is."

-ooo-

(An Hour Later)

Yugito threw a pillow of Naruto's head. "Go take a shower, you smell."

Naruto shook his head with childlike defiance, "No!" Yugito reached for another pillow and neared him as he crawled behind the low table. "Maybe if you give me some encouraging? How about you join me?"

_Fzzsht!_

Naruto had to duck low in order to avoid a bolt of lightning that would have surely killed him if it struck. "Woah!" he exclaimed jumping to the ceiling and sticking to it. "I was just kidding, Yugi-chan. I'll take a shower."

Yugito's cheeks had a dark red tinge to them. "Good," she pinched the bridge of her nose.

"In two days."

A tick mark protruded on her temple. "Two days? Why would you need to wait two days?"

Naruto merely grinned and jumped down. "I'm going to spend some quality time with the Kyūbi, you know, hang out." Catching her narrowed eyes he then said with a chuckle, "I'm kidding! It's not going to be quality time, but training. I've got to see what I can do with the knowledge Kaa-chan and my old man imparted with me."

"Surely that's going to take longer than two days, Naruto. Why are you in such a rush, you can work on it after the exams can't you?" Yugito crossed her arms with a frown. She had hoped they could take these two days for themselves and figure out what they wanted to do- _if_ there was something they wanted. Still, she was determined not to be as clingy as those villagers who couldn't stand not being with their boyfriends for long than a few hours. "We still haven't talked about us."

Naruto drew her closer to him and kissed her forehead. "We _will_ as soon as the second stage is over. They'll have to give us some downtime after being stuck in the forest for ten days. We'll have plenty of time, just for you and me. Nobody else."

Yugito raised her eyebrow skeptically. "That's a big commitment to make, Naruto. You sure you can do that without training?"

"And you're worth it," Naruto shot back with a grin. "What, you don't believe me?"

"I do, but shouldn't we spend that time preparing ourselves instead of talking about us? We should use the time we've got _now_ rather than time we should spend on something else."

Naruto nodded. "You're right. I'll let this wait for a while."

"No, go," Yugito told him with a shake of her head.

"Eh?" Naruto said with a confused look. "I thought you wanted to-"

Yugito shot him a sly smile. "I just wanted to win the argument."

"Ho, ho," Naruto began to chuckle as he clearly remembered what his father had told him the other day, 'Early victories are _huge_ in the start of a relationship' his father had said. Looks like Yugito was asserting herself as the dominant one. Naruto smiled, he was just fine with that. It was rather sexy.

The blonde reached for a few pillows of his bed and the furniture and placed them in a corner, making a comfortable area for him to sit cross-legged. Yugito didn't say a word as he did so and waited for him to close his eyes.

"I'll see you in two days," Naruto said.

Yugito nodded turning to the door. "I'll let Hari know not to disturb you."

"Don't I get a kiss for good luck?"

Yugito smiled. "You don't need luck."

"You got me there," Naruto said with a grin.

His eyes closed as he took a deep breath. Yugito left, closing the door quietly as he went through breathing exercises, immersing himself within his mind. It had been a while since Naruto did this, meditating to enter his mindscape, the last time he did it was back in Ritoru Haaku. Naruto remembered how he used to hate meditating, it was so boring and mundane, and no movement was involved. Yet, the benefits were worth it. A clear mind, renewed vigour and focus as well as clarity on what he wanted and what he needed.

A deep breath.

-ooo-

(Naruto's Mindscape)

Naruto walked down the hill as he neared the enormous wicket cage that held the Kyūbi behind bars. The fox looked up, sensing his presence and crinkled its nose with disdain.

**"You have come, Uzumaki Naruto."**

Naruto nodded. "Hello, Kyūbi. It's time to start, any advice you can offer is appreciated."

**"No,"** the Kyūbi replied, **"I will not aide you in developing weapons capable of harming me. This is your own task, not mine. I will not aid you."**

Naruto shrugged, "Fair enough, Kyūbi."

Time to get started.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

And that's that.

To those who are really concerned about the pairing, I'm sorry but their initial get-together won't last very long for plot reasons. Don't worry, they will get back together eventually, but the plot I have in mind (and it's a good one believe you me) demands they're split up fist. Not doing it to be a douche bag, but simply because character development shouldn't just come from the main character and their relationship will come out stronger after the dramatic ordeal. Hate it or love it, this is how I intended for it to go.

In regards to Naruto and Kyūbi: they hate it each other and always will, but that don't mean they can't work together.

Gatō didn't die in this story. He was never there, he was behind Zabuza and Haku's operations in Wave Country but he didn't actually go there himself. That's one illogical thing I don't get, surely one of the richest men in the world such as Gatō wouldn't be as foolish to have only thugs as his bodyguards? Argh, Kishimoto's logic sometimes fails me. Did you know there was a gun for sole in the store Sakura visited during the same arc? A friend of mine pointed it out. It's around chapter 19, behind the counter, go take a look for yourself.

Another thing: NO, Naruto does not like a carbon copy of Minato. He looks similar but he's easily distinguishable from Minato and his facial structure still resembles Kushina a great deal more. His grow spurt wasn't a big deal either, just a few inches nothing more. I only had him grow a little only to make it more realistic for his eyes to have changed as well- a change inspired by the Hidan and Kakuzu arc. When Naruto was using the RasenShuriken he had bad ass eyes, they were blue with slits.

Lastly, what did you guys think of my portrayal of Akatsuki? Let me know in a **review!**


	25. The Preliminaries Part I

**Kumogakure Ninja**

Posted: 03-06-11

Updated: 28-06-11

* * *

CH25: The Preliminaries Part I

* * *

(Two Days Later: Naruto's Mindscape)

Chakra flowed out of Naruto's hand slowly but surely, solidifying as it stretched out and weaved into long chains. The chains were faintly glowing white and transparent, they held no weight yet they felt powerful and Naruto knew as soon as he touched the _solidified chakra _these chains were powerful, _extremely_ powerful.

"I think I've got it…" Naruto raised his arm and made a swishing movement to his right. Instantly the chains ripped through the sakura trees around him like nothing, tearing them down without meeting any resistance whatsoever. "Woah… These things are pretty dangerous."

The Kyūbi exhaled through its nostrils.**"You cannot wait for the opportunity to arise for you to use those chains and strike me, don't you, Uzumaki Naruto? Even now you wait with anticipation, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike me as you comfort yourself under the pretence I deserve the punishment. These chains allure you, do they not?" **Naruto gripped the chains tighter and the fox smirked knowingly. **"And why wouldn't they? Here you are, facing the divine being that murdered your parents and those chains are capable of harming me more than you could imagine. Yes… you are simply marvelling at its power, but soon you will seek to test them out. Soon, you will want to see the effects that they have on me," **the Kyūbi bared his gigantic teeth, in a blaringly mocking sign of defiance,** "You are in some ways far more sadistic than I, Uzumaki Naruto."**

Naruto face-faulted slightly. "Stop being such a bad host Kyūbi. I told you, I'm not interested in hurting you like my mother did. And when will you let that go, she's only human. A lot of people would've done worse to you if they had the power to harm you." Naruto then added with a mumble, "Even I'm considering it."

The Kyūbi bristled with annoyance and retreated into its cage. Naruto had changed the uncomfortable looking iron cage into wicket basket and added a giant red cushion for the Kyūbi to rest on. It was still as powerful as the iron cage, but more comfortable. He was actively trying to get in the Kyūbi's good books to master its power sooner, as he would have to with the seal losing its integrity at a stronger rate. He didn't dare guess how many years it would take for the remaining three-quarters of the seal to fail and unleash the Kyūbi. It might not even take that long, perhaps when it burned down to half, the Kyūbi would be strong enough to escape… Fūinjutsu was a complex matter and Naruto was nowhere near skilled enough to be considered an expert but even he knew that seals could become far weaker, even fall apart, if they were ripped only slightly.

Naruto resisted the urge to shudder and wiped the perspiration off his forehead. He had been in his mindscape for a solid two days, continuously training on the use of chakra chains whilst in the real world he was in a meditative state, allowing his body to heal faster. He had tried to use the Kage Bunshin training method for this, having decided he could no longer afford not to with the impeding danger of the seal weakening, but had been bitterly disappointed to find out it didn't work in the realms of his mind.

The chakra chains, he learned, were a true phenomenon. They were incredibly tough to create, or to even comprehend the structural force behind them. Had it not been for the knowledge Uzumaki Kushina imparted with him before she left, he doubted he would ever come to realise he was capable of using them. The Kyūbi had mostly been unhelpful, however from its behaviour and occasional petty shots at his technique, Naruto had come to understand from the beast's implications that chakra chains were something only the Uzumaki were capable of. The Uzumaki used these chains for their Fūinjutsu (Naruto had no idea how) and for other forms of jutsu. And from what his mother had told him, it was apparently possible to give chakra chains physical form, although this was extremely difficult and not many were capable of doing this.

**"You do not even come close to Uzumaki Mito's power, let alone your mother's. Uzumaki Kushina, for all her faults, was powerful by your human standards... perhaps even mine. She wielded these chains with skills even superior to Mito."**

"You sound disappointed," Naruto observed. He then decided to ask the question that had been on his mind for a while now. "Kyūbi… did you love Uzumaki Mito?"

And in an instant the Kyūbi's eyes glowed brightly and it snarled, dashing forward to the wooden wicket basket bars holding it back and rammed its head against the cage with a roar louder than Naruto had ever heard.**"SILENCE Uzumaki Naruto or I will RIP you to SHREDS! Do not even THINK to begin associating your petty emotions to me. I do not know what love is nor do I desire to know!" **the Kyūbi bellowed so loud Naruto and several now un-rooted sakura trees were blown backwards.

Naruto got to his feet, rolling a sakura tree off him as he did so and glared at the Kyūbi. "Alright, alright, just calm the fuck down you giant shitty fur ball!" Naruto could put up with snide remarks from the fox everynow and then but he had his limits. "Don't fucking blow a gasket at me Kyūbi, don't mistake my being nice to you as weakness!"

The Kyūbi glowered but fell silent, retreating to its enormous cushion where it turned its head the other way.**"Leave me be… go, you have attained the power you came for. Leave me to my solace, now!"**

Naruto gritted his teeth with an angry glare at the Kyūbi and turned around, "Fine, have it your way!" he shouted on his way out. As he neared the 'exit' of his mind he could hear the Kyūbi speaking quietly, despite its booming voice.

**"Perhaps if I could feel those feelings you speak off… I would have felt them for Uzumaki Mito."**

Naruto froze for a moment, his eyes wide as he turned to the Kyūbi to speak.

**"Leave me be, Uzumaki Naruto. I will not answer your question," **the Kyūbi's booming tone felt even softer as it flicked its giant tails.

Naruto merely nodded and closed his eyes.

-ooo-

(The Real World)

Naruto's eyes cleared after much blinking, it took his eyes a minute to adjust to the light. He reached for the IV strap Hari had attached to him before he entered his trance and took it out with a content sigh. Naruto raised his arm and grimaced at the smell of his own stench.

The genin got to his feet slowly; his legs were asleep and felt stiff after not being used for such an unusually long time. Stumbling over to his bed where his possession had been left, Naruto stretched his limbs, reached for his pouch and went into the shower room attached to the room. Yugito had switched rooms and was now down the hall somewhere with other Kumo kunoichi, leaving Naruto and Hari to share the room with Kenji and Kenichi. None of his roommates were around so Naruto stripped down to his underwear and ripped at the bandages around his arms and torso.

Naruto looked into his reflection and swallowed hard. A long and thick scar went down from his right shoulder to his left hip, slightly thinning on the end. Naruto sported several scars over his heart as well as his abdomen, only the scars on his lungs had faded away.

A growl escaped Naruto's throat, why hadn't the Kyūbi healed these wounds? Why had it left his body so mangled? It was such a dirty, snide and _uncalled_ _for_ move of the fox. Especially now that Naruto had actually tried to rebuild bridges! Why had the Kyubi-

'It's a reminder,' Naruto realised. 'The Kyūbi wants me to remember what happened the first time I fought an opponent that overwhelmed me.'

Naruto punched the mirror angrily, hating his own reflection with a passion. As the shards of glass popped out and some of the blood seeped back into the new wounds, Naruto growled again. 'Never again… I swear it.'

...

Naruto emerged from the shower a good thirty minutes later and tied a towel around his waist as he walked back into the room and froze as he realised an attractive white-haired kunoichi with red eyes was sitting on his bed in a rather seductive pose, her kimono robe parted over her shoulder.

"Shira, what are you doing here? This is the boys' room, you know," Naruto said sternly, as he neared her. "Come on, get out before somebody sees you."

Shira laughed softly and strode over to him. "Now why, Naruto-kun, would you want me out of the room?" she leaned closer, a hand on his bicep and another on his chest. "Oh my, you have a magnificent body, even for a shinobi, Naruto, and these scars… they're quite attractive." Shira leaned in and planted a light kiss on the diagonal scar and looked up, her hand trailed downwards and rested on his abs. "Oh my indeed."

Naruto held one hand on his towel and gently pushed her away with the other. "Shira, I- I'm flattered and all, but this isn't going to happen. I'm sorry, but I'm kinda seeing someone-"

"Oh, I know," Shira said in sultry tone. "It makes me go mad when I think of her doing this to you."

Shira promptly kissed him and Naruto was so caught off guard he didn't push her back until he noticed her tongue down his throat. "Woah, Shira!" Naruto exclaimed, pushing her back with both hands firmly. "Look, Shira, you're very attractive and all but you're not my type. I'm kind of seeing Yugito now and this is _not _going to happen. I'm not that guy, sorry."

The white-haired kunoichi began to unbutton her kimono. "Are you sure?" she asked in seductive tone. "She doesn't have to know…" Shira then lowered her kimono to her hips, revealing her creamy white skin, attractive abs and generous bust only covered by her red piece of undergarment. "She doesn't need to know, Naruto-kun… We can take this as far as you like."

A flash of memories regarding him and a Kiri kunoichi who _snapped his neck_ only a few days ago prompted Naruto to shake his head vehemently and glare at Shira. Naruto strode over to the door and pulled it open. "Please leave, Shira. This isn't going to happen. Ever."

Shira bristled and fixed her kimono. "Fine," she spat, "Enjoy your time with _Yugito _instead. You two were a match made in heaven!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto demanded. 'Did the others tell her about the Kyūbi and the Nibi?' Naruto clenched his fists.

Shira didn't answer and stormed out of the room, brushing past Naruto and disappearing a moment later.

Naruto closed the door with a loud slamming noise and ran a hand through his hair, giving a heavy sigh as he did so. What did she mean with that last remark? What was her deal anyway, she never expressed any interest in him. Not in _that _way. If anything, he was positive she was out to kill him as she had tried multiple times, including the time when they ambushed him as he tried to find Yugito.

'What the hell is going on?'

Another knock on the door snapped Naruto out of his thoughts and he quickly did a Henge to cover his slit eyes, feeling a sense of a dread as he did so because Shira must have seen them. "Who is it?" Naruto called out, nearing the door.

A _fist_ smashed through the door and drove square into his nose and a second later Hari entered with his chikutō drawn and a death glare fixed on Naruto. Hari was wearing a pair of black trousers with shuriken and kunai holsters strapped to his left and right leg respectively along with matching shinobi sandals along with a light blue, long sleeved shirt under a darker shade of blue kimono robe with projectile holsters weaved into his sleeves. Hari wore his headband strapped to his forehead and had his chikutō sheath on his left hip attached to a belt and pouches strapped in a row from the small of his back to his right hip.

"Hari, what the fuck was that for?" Naruto held his nose, glad it wasn't broken but still in somewhat pain. Hari packed a mean punch…

Hari gritted his teeth and slammed the door behind him. "I just saw Shira adjusting her kimono as she walked out of the room. Something tells me you weren't having a cup of tea, Naruto," Hari said coldly. "You're my best friend, but if you're cheating on Yugito I'll make you suffer and let her have the final blow."

Naruto's lids fell into a deadpan stare. "Seriously, you think _I _would be cheating on _Yugito _with _Shira _of all people?" Naruto got to his feet, smearing blood on his towel before taking a swing at Hari and sending him bouncing off the door and nursing his jaw.

Hari held his jaw with his free hand as he came to realise Naruto's indignation. "Nothing happened…"

"Damn right nothing happened, Hari! Come on, you're my best friend, you should know me better than that!" Naruto sighed heavily and reached for his scroll and unsealed a set of clothing. "I'll be right back, stay here."

...

Ten minutes later and Naruto was dressed in black cargo trousers styled specifically for shinobi, a forest green t-shirt made of breathable fabric and a black, sleeveless flak jacket with many pockets that were filled up with sealing scrolls of different sizes and thickness. Naruto had put on a salmon coloured utility belt on to which he had a two large salmon coloured pouches that covered the small of his back and two smaller black pouches on each hip. Strapped on to both his left and right thighs were kunai and shuriken holsters. Naruto had his goggles tied around his neck and had his black clothed headband tied around his forehead. Strapped to his back was his ninja-to Hari had returned to him. Naruto puton black, fingerless gloves with metal plates on them as he finished telling his story.

"Okay, I have to commend you for not going along with it, Naruto," Hari said finally. "I mean, I'm not exactly _seeing _Miyabi but I'm not a hundred percent confident I would've been able to resist temptation. I mean, Shira is _hot. _Like the kind of 'hot' men would kill their best friends over." Hari shot him a playfully dark glare with a childish grin.

Naruto shrugged. "I don't care for her much, she creeps me out and every time I see her, apart from this time, she tries to kill me." Naruto checked tightened his utility belt as he spoke. "Besides, I think I really _like _Yugito, she's… I don't know, _perfect._"

"Ahuh," Hari replied sceptically. "Naruto you aren't even officially seeing her. How do you know you _love_ her?" Hari snorted. "You're going a bit fast here, don't you think? A few days ago you weren't even speaking, and now it's all sunshine and flowers and whatnot. You're freaking me out."

Naruto shrugged once again. "I don't, that's why I said I _think _I do, you dumbass." Checking his equipment once more, Naruto then nodded and his stomach growled loudly. "I'm hungry. Mind showing me where the food hall is?"

"Sure, just follow me."

Naruto followed Hari out of the room, noting he was a little taller than him now through due to his early on-set growth spurt the other day, it was more noticeable now as he walked aside his friend. The tower's hallways were rather narrow and grimy but Naruto didn't mind one bit, all he wanted was to get some food in his stomach. Hari told him of what conspired the past two days, noting that so far all of Kumo's teams had reached the tower, although team Kodama, Hitaro and Nadara had failed to achieve the scrolls and had simply given up. The brown-haired genin was particularly happy to report Nobori, his nemesis of team Hitaro, refused to speak to his teammates since they arrived as it was their idea to give up.

Naruto was relieved to hear none of the other Kumo genin had died or gotten hurt. Zenzō's death had upset all of them, except for team Ryūsa (none of them knew their sensei's name), who kept to themselves at all times and hadn't so much batted an eye when news of Zenzō's death reached them.

"Where's Yugito?"

Hari shrugged. "I don't know. She seems a little distracted lately, I haven't spoken to her much."

Naruto nodded as Hari led him down the hall. Hari had started telling Naruto about the other victims of Orochimaru's attack. Apparently thirteen genin had died in the attack, amongst which two genin from Konoha, even one from Hyūga Neji's year. Genin from other villages had died and though this was unfortunate, Naruto's mind was elsewhere. He was frowning and clenching his fists as he wondered how those genin had felt when they attacked the Sannin. Orochimaru wasn't a well liked S-ranked shinobi, if there were any for that matter, as he worked indiscriminately, targeting every village if it could gain him something of value. When those genin had seen him, they all thought they could stand a chance if they attacked with numbers.

How wrong they had been.

Naruto wasn't even listening to Hari anymore as they turned the corner, nor did he spot the mop of black hair and he collided into another person. He heard a shriek and looked down to find a kunoichi sitting on the floor and glaring upwards.

"Hey, watch where you're going, dick!" she spat.

Naruto raised an eyebrow as the kunoichi glared up at him. Aside from short black hair, she had pupil-less pink eyes. She wore a long red kimono, the sleeve on her right arm and the bottom left side missing, the brown Iwagakure flak jacket (worn by all ranks in Iwa), fishnet tights and shorts over them. She looked to be around Naruto's age and was rather attractive in a tomboyish kind of way but that was overshadowed by her obnoxious disposition. Naruto shook his head, clearing his mind of that thought as he focused on what she was saying.

"Aren't you going to offer me a hand?" the kunoichi snapped at him.

Naruto's eye twitched at her brazen attitude. "Sorry," he apologised and offered his hand. "I didn't look where I was going," Naruto said as he pulled her to her feet with just a small tug. "The name's Uzumaki Naruto."

The kunoichi tensed and abruptly let go of his hand, prompting Naruto to react instantly and grab her by the elbow before she fell. "Easy there," Naruto pulled her to her feet again, letting go of only when he was sure she had her balance.

"Did you say Uzumaki?" the kunoichi asked with a curious expression.

Naruto and Hari exchanged brief looks and Naruto then smiled brightly. "Nope!"

"Hahaha, Kurotsuchi-chan he's funny!"

Naruto looked upwards and noticed and stared with wide eyes atthe absolutely _giant _figure behind her. It took considerable self-restraint not to swear out loud. Naruto blinked as he took in the guy's appearance, surprised it took him so long to notice him. He was massive in every sense of the word. The giant had dark eyes and hair that spiked out at the back from underneath his forehead protector which he wore like a bandanna. He also had big cheeks and a plump nose and wore the red double sleeved Iwagakure uniform underneath his flak jacket in addition to a yellow scarf hanging around his neck.

"Woah," Hari said almost breathlessly. "You're a big one aren't you?"

"Hehe, name is Akatsuchi. You are funny puny boys, I like."

"Eh?" Naruto face-faulted. Akatsuchi was absolutely massive but he spoke in a childlike fashion, as though he was severely stunted as a child or simply mentally challenged. Naruto's eyelids dropped in a deadpan expression, then again who needed brains if you looked like you could crush a mountain with just one finger?

Kurotsuchi elbowed Akatsuchi and winced a little. "Thanks for giving away my name!" the kunoichi said sarcastically. She then did a rather embarrassing hair flick and sighed, "I'm sure you two must know all about me. The beautiful, cute and super sexy Kurotsuchi of Iwa, the granddaughter of-"

Naruto interrupted at her as he picked his nose with his eyelids dropped into an uninterested stare. "Who?"

Kurotsuchi comically face planted on the concrete floor and quickly got to her feet flushing with embarrassment. "Oi, don't play games! You know who I am, don't you bastard? Oi, don't ignore me!"

Naruto was staring off to space, flicking his boogie away withhis pinkie in a bored fashion. Naruto winced as Hari elbowed him and he looked at Kurotsuchi to find tick marks appear on her temple and cheek. "Sorry, I was thinking."

"About boogies?" Kurotsuchi spat sarcastically.

"Yes," Naruto deadpanned, getting a face-plant out of her _and _Hari. "What?" he then asked as they stood up with glares aimed at him. "She asked, I answered."

Kurotsuchi regained her composure and smiled slyly. "Tell you what, you're kinda cute. If you tell me your name I'll let you take me out on a date."

"Not interested," Naruto replied flatly, poking his finger up his nose again.

Kurotsuchi raised her fist in an angry gesture. "Why, you!"

Hari quickly drew Naruto behind him with a nervous laugh. "Don't mind my teammate, Kurotsuchi-san, he's a little crazy from time to time. Ah, excuse me, my name is Seido Hari. It's a pleasure to meet you," Hari introduced himself politely only to find his own temper getting the better of him as Kurotsuchi was picking her nose like Naruto and looking the other way. "Oi, don't go copying him! I'm being polite here!"

Akatsuchi clapped his hands like a giant infant. "Hahaha, you funny puny Kumo boy."

Hari's eyes narrowed and he instantly unsheathed his chikutō with his Iaidō swordsmanship and parried a blow aimed for Naruto's head.

_Clang!_

The air began to disrupt and appeared wavy before another Iwa genin became visibly. Hari's eyes widened at discovering the newcomer to be a young boy, perhaps not even ten years old of age.

Kurotsuchi bonked the child on his head. "Haruko-chan, don't try to kill everyone that talks to me!"

Haruko(1) was a young boy with mid-length, sea foam green hair, pink eyes, and pale skin. He wore a purple hood over a black shirt, with matching black shinobi pants and sandals. His headband was tied around his arm, and his tantō dagger strapped over his back. Haruko look frail and ill, which made him look deceptively weak, but if his introduction was anything to go by, underestimating him would be a fatal mistake in any situation.

"But Kurotsuchi-neechan, you told me to kill anyone that approaches you with impure thoughts," Haruko said with childlike innocence.

"Woah!" Naruto exclaimed. "I'm not having impure thoughts about anyone!" he said waving his hands, feeling the need to deny the accusation in case Yugito was nearby. "I don't even know this tomboy chick."

Kurotsuchi reached over and grabbed Naruto by his flak jacket. "Eh, what was that, bastard?"

Naruto instantly substituted himself with Haruko who found himself grabbed by the throat as Kurotsuchi's grip changed on reflex. The young boy in return reached out with a hand and groped her breast unperturbed.

"Kyah! You little pervert!" Kurotsuchi began to strangle Haruko with both hands as the boy flailed his hands and Akatsuchi clapped his hands in an amusement.

Naruto and Hari promptly took the opportunity to leave, both sweat-dropping as they heard Kurotsuchi swear like a sailor and Haruko trying to calmly explain there wasn't much for him to grope down there.

As the two Kumo genin walked off, Kurotsuchi eyed them, Naruto specifically, with a dark sneer. "You guys heard his name, didn't you?" she turned to Haruko, not bothering with the simpleton Akatsuchi.

Haruko nodded, "Uzumaki, why does that sound familiar, Kurotsuchi-neechan?" The boy reached for her breast again.

Kurotsuchi slapped his hand aside, not bothering to inflict further injury. "My old man once told me Jii-chan once fought an Uzumaki, even older than he was. The Uzumaki's were the founders of a village known as Uzushiogakure, they got wiped out a long time ago during the Third Great Shinobi War, but a few survived. One of them was Konoha's Chishio's no Habanero, Uzumaki Kushina."

Haruko tilted his head in childlike confusion. "Was she great?"

Kurotsuchi didn't answer right away. Being the granddaughter of the Sandaime Tsuchikage naturally meant she knew more than most people, a lot more actually. Her father and grandfather often indulged her in stories of the olden days; she was after all going to be the wife of the Yondaime Tsuchikage, whoever that would be now that Deidara had defected. "My old man and Jii-chan used to tell me a lot of stories about the Yondaime of Konoha," Kurotsuchi began, "A few times here and there, they would mention his lover, Uzumaki Kushina. Apparently she was incredibly strong, some say she was stronger and more beautiful than Tsunade of the Sannin. They didn't have any kids known of but…"

Haruko, and even to her surprise Akatsuchi, gasped.

Kurotsuchi shook her head. "It could just be coincidence. Who knows, maybe Uzumaki is a common name wherever he comes from."

-ooo-

The food hall was crowded, segmented in portions of seats where genin of the same villages grouped together and ate in silence. Most spoke, some didn't, but everyone listened. It was strange, Naruto thought, as he found himself being eyeballed by the vast majority of his fellow participants and the handful chūnin present. Word of him facing Orochimaru and apparently dying by said Sannin's hands had spread fast, it was after all not every day a genin went toe-to-toe with an S-ranked shinobi and survived.

Naruto caught a look of some Kusa genin. His heart clenched for a split second, remembering what had happened to Karin, another victim of Orochimaru he had sworn to remember if he ever came to face the Snake Sannin again. Also sat at the Kusa tabkem were the genin of the other villages who had aligned with them. Quite a few made a point of shooting him a dark look for inadvertently killing their leader. Fortunately, Tsukuyo, shot him a nervous smile, unsure whether to be fearful or friendly.

Naruto pretended not to notice, not wanting to put her in bad standing with her allies and pressed on. A few tables down he saw Kumo genin, oddly enough Ryūsa Hideaki and his teammates were sitting with team Manako and the others. Yugito looked up as he approached them and scooted aside; Naruto sat next to her with a nod to the others.

"Yo."

Ryūsa eyed him, sizing him up curiously. "I heard you fought Orochimaru of the Sannin," he stated, apparently waiting for an explanation.

"Yep, I lost big time." Naruto did not indulge him, he did not like Ryūsa in the slightest. "Have I missed anything?"

Ryūsa scoffed and stood up; his silent teammates followed him immediately without a word, taking their half eaten plates with them and disposing of them on their way out. Naruto still didn't understand how they could be so blindly obedient but didn't pay it any further mind.

"Team Shikūyo, Ryūsa's team – really, who is their sensei? - team Manako, team Nadara and us are the only ones that passed this stage," Yugito informed them.

Tokashiji tensed and tried to play it off by taking a bite of his plate but Naruto spotted it and patted his back. "Don't feel too bad, Toka, you'll get it next year."

"Of course he will," Nobori's eyes gleamed, "Maybe when he can for once stop trying to get in Miyabi's pants and stop agreeing with everything she says. Thanks to that weak bitch and this weakling, we dropped out."

Hari's eyes rested only a second on Tokashiji, who visibly flinched as his eyes moved on to Nobori. "You know, Nobori, you can keep pushing people around you, thinking you can get away with saying whatever the fuck you want, but one of these days you're gonna push too far and when that happens no one will be there to have your back. Being a comrade gives you only so much leeway."

Disappointed with how little he was annoying Hari, Nobori scoffed a "Whatever" and got out of his seat and left. Tokashiji turned to Hari and opened his mouth but Hari shook his head and they both fell silent. Naruto frowned, as did the others, and changed the subject to diffuse the tension.

"What time does the second stage officially end? It's," Naruto looked up at the giant clock in the food hall, "Around twelve. How long we got till it's time for the third stage?"

"Two more hours," Kenji replied. He was wearing an actual eye-patch now, supplied by the medical ninja in the tower to cover his blind eye. "It's strange, they're not just telling us what the next objective is. I'm pretty sure we're getting down time would think they could just hand out the next set of objectives as soon as possible rather than wait for everyone to gather."

Yugito nodded, "It would be a good incentive to get here faster."

Naruto dragged Yugito's barely touched plate of food and helped himself to her rice with bean paste and chicken, shooting her a grin as she raised an eyebrow. Hari had already eaten and had gotten involved with the conversation. "I'm hearing some strange rumours being spread by this crazy Kiri kunoichi who apparently fought that Uchiha kid at some point," Hari eyed Naruto and was surprised to see the blonde unbothered, "She said he was brought in screaming in pain. They say he died."

Naruto snorted and the others looked at him with raised eyebrows. "Oh, come on," Naruto shook his head, "Konoha's not going to let their only Uchiha alive die, his blood is too important. If he had died, then you would've heard it confirmed by those Konoha genin over there that keep staring at me like I'm a ghost."

All the Kumo genin followed Naruto's gaze to see a handful genin with Konoha headbands look at them, Naruto winked at Ino, who simply glared back whilst Yugito _subtly _elbowed him in the ribs. 'She couldn't have found out it was me that found her scroll, did she?'

"Did you guys hear there's a Kaguya clan member participating on _Kiri's _behalf?" Kenichi questioned, raising a few more eyebrows. The Tomaro sighed and began to explain, "Everyone here knows about their blood purges, right?" They all nodded, it was one of the most important topics discussed in the academy. "Well the Kaguya were known for their kekkai genkai that allowed them to manipulate their bones and …"

As Kenichi continued to explain, Naruto only half listened. Something was off and no sooner had he looked to the far right did he spot a tuft of red hair and teal eyes staring at him intently, almost…_longingly_. Naruto shot Sabaku no Gaara a single glance, brief eye contact lasting no longer than a second but it said all it had to, 'I'm not afraid of you, just try it'. Gaara inclined his head ever so slightly, acknowledging him as his next prey and stalked off with his siblings in tow, the pigtailed kunoichi shot him one last look of pity, it infuriated Naruto more than the smug grin the war paint wearing giant had plastered on his face.

Yugito nudged Naruto with her elbow. "What is it?" Naruto caught her dry deadpanning look and wondered why her eyelids drooped and her eyebrow arched in a questioning manner. "Am I missing something?"

"You gotta be kidding me," Hari groaned with a face-palm.

Now the other genin were looking at him with similar deadpan expression and Naruto ran a hand over his face, nope there wasn't anything on his face or stuck between his teeth either. "OK," Naruto put up a matching deadpan expression, "You can shoot me those looks all day long but if don't know what the hell it is I'm supposed to be noticing, I can't really do anything about it." Even team Shikūyo was looking at him strangely and he didn't even know them that well. "What! What is it?"

Yugito sighed exasperatedly. "It's your birthday, today. How did you manage to not notice that?"

"Oh, that's right!" Naruto exclaimed. The exam started on the first of October and his birthday was on the tenth. "I see," Naruto chuckled sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. "My bad. It's not a big deal though, I mean since when do shinobi celebrate their birthdays? It's not like we've got a cake or anything."

Kenichi smiled, "Actually we do."

"You've got a cake?" Naruto lit up.

Everyone shot him another deadpan expression and replied with a dry tone to match, "No, of course not."

Naruto's hopeful expression fell. "I hope you all burst into flames and die."

"Naruto!" Miyabi exclaimed much to their laughter.

"What, you don't tempt a man with cake and then turn around and say you don't have any!" Naruto crossed his arms angrily. "When I become Raikage, I'm going to make it punishable by death!"

-ooo-

(Two Hours Later: Tower of Death Assembly Hall)

All the genin were standing in a _huge _assembly hall on the seventeenth level of the Tower of Death. This floor was absolutely massive; it took up almost the entire tower's width and length, allowing little space for a set of elevators**,** a flight of stairs behind the genin and a giant pair of arms, of which the hands were formed into the ram hand seal, the hand seal best known to be associated with the shinobi arts. Two more stairs were on either side of the assembly hall. Going up fifteen feet to the balconies and suspended twenty feet up, slightly above the hand-seal-forming arms was an enormous screen.

This particular floor was used to assemble all the shinobi present in time of war to brief them on the battle plan. In fact, it was said the Shodaime Hokage created the Tower of Death, or the Shi no Mori, after the first siege of Konoha in the First Great Shinobi War. The Nidaime converted it into a proper stronghold with impressive defence mechanisms and thus the Tower of Death became one of Konoha's foremost bastions.

The genin were all ordered into five rows of twelve and instructed to be silent by a handful chūnin staffers working in the tower as the double doors behind the giant arms opened and figures swept in. The Sandaime Hokage of Konoha strode in with his posse of elite jōnin. Following, were several jōnin representatives of all the villages participating, totalling roughly twenty or more shinobi, amongst which were Genryūsei, Darui and Shi, the quirky Manako and several other jōnin. Naruto spotted a _drop dead gorgeous _jōnin with the Kumo flak jacket and headband, silver coloured hair and two swords strapped to her hips.

'Who are the lucky bastards that have her as their sensei?' Naruto wondered, eyeing the kunoichi appreciatively. 'She kinda looks like Mabui-' said train of thought had Naruto almost vomit over himself as his mind jumped from her to Mabui and from Mabui to Mabui and Kirabi – 'That should be illegal!' Naruto quelled his upset stomach with an absentminded pat. Naruto focused himself on the kindly smiling Hokage as he rested his eyes on the genin and glanced over them slowly with a regretful look in his eyes.

"You have all seen and experienced firsthand what you are capable of," the Hokage began; his voice took a grave tone. "The Forest of Death's soil has been soaked with the blood of many before you and it will continue to be a battleground where the young come to test their limits. What you have done and what has been done to you out there however is only a fraction of the true horrors the real battlefield holds." The Hokage slowly glanced to his right and rested his eyes on Naruto and his lips twitched almost into a wry smile as he continued his speech. "The second stage of the Chūnin Exam is meant to wash out the weak, those who do not have the stomach to kill for the good of their villages... those who do not have the will to commit unspeakable acts for the sake of their village."

Naruto swallowed, those 'unspeakable acts' had become the centre of rumours these days. Some were so horrible they sent a shiver down his spine. Apparently a kunoichi from Ame was raped and killed in the forest by Iwa shinobi not too long ago, Naruto had heard. She was found hanging from a tree alongside with her teammates. Naruto sincerely hoped it hadn't been the kunoichi of the team he had attacked, hell he hoped it was just a stupid rumour altogether. Shaking his head, the blonde focused on what the Kage was saying, having zoned out and missed a few words already.

"This year's exam was the largest in nearly two decades. A hundred-eighty genin were entered by fifteen villages, sixty teams in total," the Hokage's demeanour grew dark, "Sixty out of a hundred-eighty genin did not accomplish their task and failed to obtain all scrolls. Another sixty of you were killed or injured too gravely to further participate. Know that your villages care very little at the end of the day," a few genin gasped and even a few of the senior shinobi's looked at the Hokage with shock, "That is the harsh truth. The shinobi world has gone through many changes over the past few decades. No longer are kunoichi strictly used as agents of seduction, no longer are academy students forced to fight to the death to graduate, no longer do you have to learn to kill at a young age… Still! What remains the same, what remains unchanged even to this day is that you are all tools!"

Nobody had the gall to make a joke or even crack a smile.

"Who you are, what you feel, what you experience- your villages care not! _What _you are is what matters! Are you a sharpened tool, a weapon to be used by your village to do what is necessary for country and village or are you a dull blade of weak mettle?" The Hokage gave them all a hard stare and many looked away. "Many of you will die in the line of duty and believe me when I say it will not be pretty. You will not all die a glorious death. You will not all go down history. You will not all be remembered by the populace you gave your life for."

Finally a lone timid genin with of the Hidden Forest raised his hand and the Hokage nodded. It had been a speech, not a lecture, but the Hokage nodded nonetheless and allowed the question to be asked.

"Then why do we do it?"

"Because someone has to," the Hokage answered quietly, but everyone present in the hall heard and understood the gravity of his answer. "Genin, I have nothing more to say to you. If you have not caught the meaning of what I have said, then so be it. Now, we move on to the next matter at hand. Hayate!"

One of the jōnin behind the Hokage stepped forward brushing past a silver-haired jōnin as he did so and moved next to the Hokage who simply nodded to him. "My name is Hayate Gekkō, I will be the proctor of the Chūnin Exam preliminaries for the third round."

"What!"

"Prelims? What the fuck is this?"

Naruto clenched his fist in anticipation along with many other genin as the outrage soon settled and Hayate went on to explain. The jōnin coughed sickly as he spoke and took a few seconds to take a deep breath between sentences.

"Due to the high amount of genin this year and due to more genin passing the second stage than anticipated, all of you will have to fight two one-on-one matches with whomever the computer randomly picks. This is not negotiable, all of you must agree to these terms if you wish to pass to the next stage. The rules are simple, you may not leave the building to continue the fight nor may your allies help you. Killing is frowned upon but is not prohibited. Know that I will call the match should the match already been decided," Hayate coughed a dozen or so times and continue with a raspy voice, "Those whom do not wish to participate may surrender on the beginning of their match, but all of you must stay for the duration of the preliminaries to avoid any foul play."

A few genin outraged, one even loudly called it bullshit and the likes but no further reaction was given. The proctor then gestured to one of the staircases to his right and said with a cough, "The preliminaries have begun, climb to the balconies and await your calls."

As the genin trudged towards the staircases the Hokage walked to another set of stairs leading to a private chamber-balcony from where he could observe the fights himself. The jōnin and chūnin staffers swiftly disappeared and reappeared on the balconies with a quick Shunshin.

-ooo-

Naruto followed Yugito up the stairs and helped himself to a pleasant view of her backside as they walked up to the balconies and grouped together with the other Kumo genin who stood close to some Hidden Forest and Konoha genin. It made only made sense to stick close to your comrades for support and most genin understood this although some preferred to walk around the intricate balcony set ups and mingle, no doubt some of them were fishing for information.

Naruto met Yugito's angry glare as she caught on why he was staring at her intently and he grinned sheepishly, odd enough, she shook her head and sighed 'pervert' exasperatedly. 'I wonder what else I can get away with on my birthday,' Naruto wondered as he stood beside her and Hari amongst their peers. "Anyone nervous?"

Out of the seven teams Kumo had sent in, three had failed and it was now down to teams Kirabi, Shikūyo, Manako and Ryūsa's team (really, what was their sensei's name?) to pass the exam. There was a new sense of camaraderie between the teams as here on out they wouldn't be fighting as teams but as individuals. They could now at least count on each other for support outside of the matches, for the time being or so Naruto thought. Apparently Ryūsa didn't quite think so as he and his teammates abruptly walked past them without even looking at them, but nobody commented.

Fūjihara shook her head to Naruto. "If I fail this stage, it doesn't matter. Not for my team anyway."

"Why's that?" Yugito asked.

"We've done the most missions of all genin teams in Kumo. We're bound to get promoted soon, exam or no exam," Hibari answered.

Kenichi ran a hair through his hair and commented, "You lucky bastards. I still don't get how you guys got more C-ranked missions than we did."

"Maybe if you weren't in the hospital being treated for chakra exhaustion after each mission we would have," Kenji said dryly. It was odd how much different he looked with the new eye-patch on; it was as if he was someone else. "Personally, my biggest worry is to face a fellow Kumo shinobi right off the bat."

They all nodded to that, none of them wanted to be pit against one another from the start.

Down below Hayate Gekkō walked up to the middle and gave a thumbs up and shortly after the enormous TV screen went on and it began to switch through letters and digits rather fast before it read out in giant letters: "AKIRA ARATA(2) VERSUS SASAKI GENJI(3)".

The shinobi from Kusa and Kiri walked descended from the stair cases and walked to the centre of the hall and stood opposite of each other with serious expressions. Hayate looked at both very briefly, reiterated the rules and then distanced himself and shouted, "Begin!"

Naruto paid attention for perhaps the first minute or so before he looked away, knowing the Kusa genin was about to get butchered. The gap in skills were too big for him and soon enough Naruto was proven right as the genin fell on his back, unconscious no more than three minutes into the match. The Kiri Nin swiftly sheathed his blade, cleaning it with a flick and walked away with a smug, satisfied expression. To prove his strength, he had purposefully cut the Kusa genin in face, as a reminder.

Naruto frowned, "That's a bit excessive, don't you think? What a dick." Naruto leaned on the railing next to Yugito and took her hand into his, squeezing it lightly to convey he missed her in the past two days he was 'gone', off to train in his mindscape to unlock the gifts bequeathed unto him by his parents. Yugito looked at him and nodded, squeezing his hand in return; then turned her attention back to the fighting as the next pair was announced, a Konoha genin and a Hidden Forest genin went at it.

"Yo."

"Heya."

Naruto turned to see Darui and Shi approach them along with the other jōnin sensei of Kumo. Shi shot Naruto a wink and an approving smile upon seeing Naruto and Yugito, prompting Naruto to greet them quickly before Yugito could feel uncomfortable. "Heya, Darui-sensei, Shi-sensei. It's been a while."

"Only ten days," Darui counted but nodded understandingly no less. "Must have felt like more, huh?" the jōnin then turned to Nobunaga and greeted his nephew and struck a conversation with him.

Shi however glanced at Naruto suspiciously, or more specifically his eyes. Being a genjutsu specialist, he caught onto the low level Transformation jutsu Naruto had used and he mouthed, 'genjutsu' at Naruto, who nodded in return and mouthed 'later' in return. "So, Yugito-chan, how was it out there? Something interesting happened?"

Naruto face-faulted at Shi's approach to the subject but kept quiet as Yugito glanced at him and then at Shi. "A lot happened, Shi-sensei," she replied evenly. "I'll be happy to tell you after this is all over."

Shi nodded and then turned to Hari and struck up a conversation with him, having bonded quite a bit with the brown-haired member of team Kirabi over the past few months as he had taught him medical jutsu. Naruto shrugged at Yugito in response to her questioning glance.

"Looks like the next match is about to be announced," Fūjihara said evenly, eyeing the two genin below going at it. The Hidden Forest genin was putting up a good fight, his moves just screamed desperation, but it wasn't enough and soon the Morigakure genin fell to the ground and was forced to yield. The Konoha genin nodded respectfully and backed away, a stark contrast in behaviour to the Kiri shinobi, and left as soon as he was announced the winner.

The proctor cleared his throat as the genin parted and looked up to the board. It read: "HYŪGA NEJI VERSUS TOMARO KENICHI". Kenichi tensed up at the prospect of fighting a Hyūga and though he tried to harden his disposition, his comrades noticed his anxiety. Naruto smiled and walked over to his senior and slapped him on the shoulder reassuringly. "Hey, Kenichi, don't be afraid of that guy. I fought him and I managed to beat him."

Kenichi swallowed hard and exhaled deeply to calm his nerves. "You did? Got any tips?"

"Sure, he's a close range fighter so try to keep your distance; I doubt you can take him in his field of specialty. Use strictly ninjutsu, don't even bother with genjutsu since his Byakugan will see straight through it. Avoid even the slightest touch if you can, that bastard uses a fight style that's deceptively strong. He broke through my shin guards with less than three hits, so you know what'll happen if he lands one on you."

"Tomaro Kenichi!"

Kenichi nodded to Naruto and went to descend from the stairs when Naruto slapped him on the shoulder so hard he doubled over the ledge and ploughed into the ground.

"Th- thanks a lot, Naruto!" Kenichi shouted as he got to his feet, slightly red in the face with embarrassment.

"Just fight already!" Naruto shouted back, cupping his mouth to project his voice louder. "He's nowhere near as strong as he thinks! I would know!" He then added with a reassuring wink, "You took on Orochimaru, so you definitely can't be afraid of _this _girly bastard. He doesn't have the freakishly long tongue!"

Kenichi had to crack a smile at that, Naruto did make one hell of a point there.

-ooo-

(Fighting Area)

Neji eyed Kenichi intently as they stood opposite to each other. "A Tomaro, not my intended target but it will have to do for now," Neji sneered, sliding into a lax stance of the famed Hyūga Jūken and his eyes zeroed in on Kenichi; a graceful incline of his head to the proctor.

"You're a cheerful one," Kenichi smiled wryly, "I know why you hate me-"

"I don't hate you. I _nothing_ you," Neji sneered. "I am very well aware you could not possibly have anything to do with what happened years ago."

Kenichi's eyes drooped into a deadpan stare, "Then why take your anger out on me?" he shook his head, "Never mind, I don't really care. I'm ready, proctor." Kenichi nodded to Hayate and slid in a stance of his own.

Hayate looked at both contestants and nodded. "Begin!" The proctor then drew back.

"No, you will mind!" Neji spat. "Your clan is responsible for the death of Hyūga Hizashi, my father-" Kenichi visibly tensed at this – "Yes, my father was killed in order to appease Kumo after your clan, the Tomaro Clan, exploited our times of weakness and demanded a Hyūga life for the attack on Shinobigashira Seido Tadashi and murder of another jōnin!"

…

Up in the balconies, Hari flinched and his eyes widened as did those of his peers. They all stared at him with questioning glances.

…

"I know there is a Seido attending the Chūnin Exam, Tomaro." Veins began to pop out by his eyes and temples. "Apparently the son of Seido Tadashi had the audacity to come to Konoha to participate, I would like to see the son of the man that caused the death of my father. Tell me who he is and I will spare you."

"What happened to your father was tragic and I can't say I agree with what happened but know that I will never give up my comrade," Kenichi matched Neji's glare, "Enough talking. Let's settle this!"

No sooner had he said it,Neji surged forward with Byakugan eyes blazing and slammed into Kenichi's weak defences. The clash was brutal and Neji's Gentle Fist finger jabs struck Kenichi in his thigh, his left forearm and shoulder. With little remaining strength in said limb, Kenichi swung it at him in a back-fist but found himself thrown over Neji's shoulders in a judo throw and slammed into the ground painfully. Quickly, to avoid another jab, Kenich slammed his fist on the ground as he fell; a thick tile launched off the floor and served as a distraction for Kenichi to roll over the ground and draw back as Neji sliced through the tile with a quick chop.

"The Jūken sure is dangerous," Kenichi gritted through his teeth as his left arm fell weak to his side.

Neji sneered, "Of course, it is unbeatable. Now that you can no longer use ninjutsu, I will take my time crippling you." Neji slid into an altered Jūken stance, leaning forward in a crouch as he spread his arms.

Kenichi rolled his eyes, "You'll have to stop underestimating me if you really want to win this fight," and with that Kenichi raised his remaining arm in front of him and slowly proceeded to form strange hand seals that vaguely resembled some of the twelve basic hand seals.

"Single-handed hand seals?" Neji sneered, "Impressive as it may be, it is useless against me!"

Neji darted forward once again, however Kenichi was already done and took a deep breath and spat a jet of fire, "Katon! Hidō no Jutsu!"

A jet of fire spread across the floor and swept towards the charging Neji. The Hyūga burst through the fire, singing the rims of his sleeves as he executed his next jutsu.

"Hakke Rokujūyon Shō!"

Screams followed.

Two strikes, another two strikes, four strikes, eight strikes, sixteen strikes, thirty-two strikes.

Neji's hands moved in blurring motions, creating after-images so fast only a few could follow. With each strike, his own chakra closed off another tenketsu in Kenichi's Chakra Pathway System, causing incredible pain and suffering in the process. To his credit, Kenichi remained standing as Neji broke bones and bruised muscles and rendered his body incapacitated and stricken with pain.

And the jovial shinobi remained standing once it was over, craned forward to an dangerous angle but standing nonetheless. His mind and body long since disconnected through the sweet embrace of unconsciousness.

"Winner, Hyūga Neji!"

* * *

**_Author's Notes_**

It's been a while since I updated.

Apologies for the unannounced hiatus, but I had no other choice, what with exams and whatnot popping up everywhere. T'was a necessary break from writing stories, really. Now that I've got a few weeks to myself, I'm looking forward to getting back in routine. A word of warning, it's been a while and I had to write bits and pieces of this chapter whenever I could, so yeah, it won't be my best but shouldn't be _too_ bad… I hope.

This chapter we'll see some cameo appearances of reviewers who submitted original characters. Some will be recurring, some won't even show up till other arcs start, but hey, it's all in good fun. So, have fun and review!

Character cameo appearances!

(1) Kaoru Haruko – James Krieg and Jack Crusade

(2) Akira Arata – James Krieg and Jack Crusade

(3) Sasaki Genji – Kojiro-kun

More to come in later chapters and/or arcs.

…

**Jutsu Used:**

_(Katon! Hidō no Jutsu - Trace of Fire!) – C rank, supplementary, short to midrange. The user draws chakra to his lungs and breathes a jet of fire to hold off, detain or isolate the intended target._

_(Hakke Rokujūyon Shō - Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!) - ? rank, offensive, short range. The Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms is a manoeuvre of the Jūken fighting style that is reserved only for the main branch of the Hyūga Clan. This technique is used to close off the flow of chakra through sixty-four chakra-points of an opponent's Chakra Pathway System. This eliminates their ability to use chakra for quite some time and makes it difficult for them to move due to pain caused by closed off tenketsu. The Rokujūyon Shō uses sixty-four strikes and each set of strikes is done at an exponentially increasing pace and strength. The attack not only disables the enemy but also knocks them back with every set of strikes. **Parent jutsu:** Jūken (Gentle Fist)._


	26. The Preliminaries Part II

**Kumogakure Ninja**

Posted: 14-06-11

Updated: 28-06-11

* * *

CH26: The Preliminaries Part II

* * *

Medics ran to the fallen Kumo genin and laid him out on the stretcher just as Hyūga Neji turned his back and left the ring. A few cheered, mostly Konoha nin, but the majority of the genin fell silent. This had been the first inter-village grudge match for reasons everyone knew. In the past Kumo had wronged Konoha and as a result, an innocent man was sacrificed to save his older brother. Hyūga Hizashi did not have to die that day. Hyūga Neji did not have to become fatherless that day.

None of that would have happed had it not been for Seido Tadashi.

Naruto shook his head solemnly and turned to face his peers, "Kenichi fought well."

Kenji gripped the railing tightly and nodded curtly, Taiko laid her hand on his comfortingly. "He'll be fine. He's stubborn that way."

"Greetings."

The Kumo shinobi turned to see a tall, grey-skinned man with black spiky hair in Kumo's regular jōnin attire accompanied by Ryūsa and his teammates. The jōnin team leaders present greeted him curtly; Ryūsa had an inexplicable smug twitch of a smile on his face as though his sensei was some highly esteemed figured. Though he probably was from the respect he commanded from other jōnin present.

"Your sensei?" Naruto held up a peace sign. "Nice to meet you…"

Ryūsa sneered at him. "As if you don't know who Kazuo-sensei is."

Naruto didn't. He had no idea who Kazuo was, but from what he would hear later, he was apparently a very renowned shinobi, often regarded as Kumo's equivalent of Hatake Kakashi and coincidentally one of the few that had butted heads Sharingan no Kakashi on more than one occasion. Having never met the man before, the first impression Naruto had of the grey-skinned man was rather superficial. 'This guy should go out some more.' Naturally, he would never voice these thoughts.

Being around Kirabi since he was a kid didn't mean Naruto hadn't picked up any good manners, he wouldn't have if it weren't for Raiden whose disciplinary Iron Claw was extremely painful, that and his version of 'shock therapy' Naruto had suffered. This form of 'therapy' as Raiden called involved the Raikage prodding him with a lightning-infused finger whenever he stepped out of line. Yugito never got this kind of treatment, mostly because she never pissed Raiden off and he actually treated her like a normal uncle would.

"It's nice to meet you, Kazuo-sensei." Naruto made sure he sounded as respectful as he could without appearing to be trying too hard.

Kazuo merely nodded, "We'll be going now. I think it would be for the best we let our genin mingle in the crowds, perhaps gain some perspective and insight."

"And prepare for the possibility of having to face a comrade?" Shi added rhetorically.

Kazuo made no attempt to deny it. "Of course, that too. Now then, we'll be going."

'So much for camaraderie,' thought Naruto as he followed his team.

-ooo-

(A Few Minutes Later)

"Glad we got out of there," Hari commented leaning onto a wall. "You guys don't think I should tell them, do you? I mean, Hyūga Neji pretty much said it all."

"Don't sweat it, Hari. It's none of their business." Naruto eyed the giant screen across the hall, catching a glimpse of two kunoichi of Rock and Waterfall being paired up, gaining a few catcalls from immature teenagers.

"We can talk about that later, I think it's time you tell us what happened in the forest. How did you survive against Orochimaru, and why are you using a genjutsu that can be detected by an academy student, Naruto?" Shi questioned.

"We ran into some trouble," Yugito said. "Orochimaru of the Sannin infiltrated the Forest of Death and-"

"It was my entire fault," Naruto cut her off. "Orochimaru was after Uchiha Sasuke and for some stupid reason I thought I was supposed to save him. We clearly bit off more than we could chew and Orochimaru kicked our asses big time. In that one fight, I've never been overpowered like that before. Every move I made, he just countered with something deadlier. I thought we stood a chance when it was me a Yugito but…"

"You can tell us the rest later," Darui told him, noticing the pained expression on Naruto. "Drop your genjutsu though, you'll have to sooner or later."

Naruto, Hari and Yugito shared a look. Shi caught on, "What, what's that look?"

"I don't think I should drop this genjutsu, Shi-sensei, it's a little…" Naruto trailed off and conceded with a nod. "Alright, alright, I'll drop the genjutsu. Kai!"

"What the fuck happened to you?" It was the first time they ever heard Darui swear.

Naruto made a ram hand seal and reapplied the genjutsu. "For the time being, it's not a problem. Can we talk about this later, please? I know Kirabi's not going to be happy, or the Raikage for that matter… anyway, it's not a huge problem. OK, maybe it is but for the time being it's perfectly safe, I think."

"You think?" Shi face-palmed. "As soon as these prelims are over, you're coming with us. We need to examine your seal."

Naruto groaned, "Yes, Shi-sensei."

"Winner, Misaki Yakushi!(1)"

"Come on, let me go next!" Hari put fist to palm. "We need to win two out of two if we want to pass, don't we? Losing even one match means disqualification."

"You should be fine," Yugito told him. "We've come a long way in the past few months. Succeed or fail, we are a team and if this doesn't work out, we'll have to work even harder on our missions."

Darui chuckled at them, "You three really want to fight that badly, huh? Well, with all the training we put you through- well look at that, Naruto you're up."

Hayate stepped forward as the genin left and looked up to the screen that read: 'Uzumaki Naruto versus Sabaku no Kankurō.'

"Finally!" Naruto flashed them a smile and promptly to jump over the railing.

-ooo-

(Konoha Genin)

"Looks like Naruto's up," Shikamaru pointed out, leaning on the safety railing with a lazy expression. "Whoever ends up being his opponent better be prepared."

Ino nudged her teammate rather hard with herelbow. "Quit being such a loser, Shika! He beat us once, and he got lucky."

"He can't be that strong," Kiba agreed easily. "Just look at him, there's no way he could have won if you guys took him seriously. Chōji is the strongest of our year, physically speaking I mean."

Shikamaru firmly shook his head, "The only way I can beat him is if I've got the element of surprise, strategies and contingency strategies. If he can force a Kawarimi through my Kagemane that easily, he's not someone to take lightly. Just watch, you can tell by the Sand kid's expression he's not taking Naruto seriously, he's giving his teammates thumbs up and now he's telling the proctor to call the match already. This guy is in for one hell of a loss."

"Yosh!"

The Genin nine turned to see their seniors of team Gai approach them. As always, Rock Lee greeted them with exuberant enthusiasm. "You have faced Naruto-kun in combat?"

"You guys fought them too?" Haruno Sakura spoke up. She seemed somewhat dishevelled but her wounds were treated. "I bet you guys had them, right? I mean, you're more experienced than they are, right?"

Tenten's expression turned sour in remembrance of her one-sided match. "Even Neji lost."

"Hn." Neji sneered, "I underestimated him and he defeated me. Had I not underestimated him, he would have not stood a chance."

Shikamaru groaned loudly, nearly swearing under his breath rather uncharacteristically.

"What was that, Shika?" Kiba challenged.

"You guys are being idiots," the shadow-user said bluntly. "Losing is losing, underestimating your opponent is just a part of that. It's not an excuse… I learned that the hard way."

-ooo-

(Naruto VS Kankurō)

Naruto eyed the tall Suna genin standing opposite him with a hard stare fixated on his opponent's body language. He was tall but didn't seem to be the taijutsu type, he also smelled of oil and wood for some reason.

Kankurō smirked in knowingly fashion. "If I were you, I would just give up now and save myself the embarrassment. There's always next year… midget."

Naruto twitched out of habit more than anything. "Oh, that's real funny coming from a guy that uses his sister's makeup." There was a sting to that comment that caused a vein pop up on Kankurō's forehead.

Hayate sweat-dropped, "If you two are done with the trash talking…"

"I'm ready, proctor," Kankurō nodded to the jōnin.

Naruto emulated his opponent and slid into his own stance. 'Bring it, bitch,' Naruto's expression turned into a twisted smile. 'His stance is easily readable, this guy is a mid to long range fighter. As soon as the match begins, he's going to distract me and retreat to set up whatever that thing is on his back.'

Hayate Gekkō looked at both of them, returning their nods and made a chopping motion as he jumped back, "Begin!"

As anticipated, Kankurō reached for a purple ball stuck to his vest and threw it on the floor. Purple smoke bellowed over the fighting area and masked his opponent's movements, but Naruto was already going through a few hand seals, "Fūton! Daitoppa no Jutsu!"

Naruto's chest expanded briefly before he unleashed a strong gust of wind that blew away the smoke away, revealing the Sand genin gritting his teeth in frustration. Naruto burst forward, ninja-to unsheathed and covered in a Shippū Shūren poised to impale.

Sure of his victory, Naruto intended to stop the blade only inches away from Kankurō's face, however suddenly the genin reached out and caught the blade with his hands. Naruto's eyes widened momentarily, however once he heard an unnatural sound of the grinding of wood Naruto increased power and stabbed straight through his opponent.

_CRACK!_

The Hurricane Drill encased sword plunged straight through Kankurō, however instead of blood and flesh being shed, bolts and jagged chunks of wood flew through the air. At the last moment, the _thing_ shoved the blade upwards, removing half of its face but saving itself from being destroyed.

Naruto's focus faltered. "What the fuck-"

The wooden creature reared its metallic-wooden fist and drove it square into Naruto's face, slamming him backwards. Naruto skidded over the floor but gained footing and quickly threw a kunaito keep the puppet on its guard. Blood streamed down his face and stung his eyes, but his sight remained on the hunched back humanoid constructed out of wood and metal.

"A puppet… of course, I thought you smelled like wood cause of the forest but this explains the oil. You clever bastard." Naruto had to laugh a little and wiped the blood away. "You can come out now, I know it's you."

The bandaged figure on the puppets back unfurled theatrically and revealed Kankurō, who seemed rather pleased with himself. "In Suna, we specialise in the art of puppetry. This masterpiece is Karasu, a creation of none other than Akasuna no Sasori, the greatest puppeteer Suna ever produced."

Karasu was a seven foot tall humanoid puppet with brown spiky hair, three eyes, one of which was missing, jagged teeth; four arms of which two were folded to its chest. The puppet was lined with metal and covered for the most part by a black cloak. As if to mock Naruto, the puppet made rattling noise with its mouth and proceeded to pick up the blonde's ninja-to and snap it in half.

"Now that was just mean," Naruto drawled getting to his feet. "Looks like we underestimated each other, how embarrassing. Don't worry though, from here on out I'm going to give it all I got!"

Kankurō pulled the strings to move Karasu in front of him. "Bring it!" Karasu's remaining arms unfolded and the hands fell off to reveal cannon- appendages. "Kurohigi! Yakushin no Sattō!"

_(Jutsu: Kurohigi! Yakushin no Sattō – Black Secret Technique! Onslaught Rush!)_

Karasu surged forward, its cannon-like appendages spitting fire and its arms extending through additional segments to enlarge them at least a foot. Naruto made a hand seal and formed a Kage Bunshin and attacked head on, much to the spectator's confusion as well as Kankurō's. As the clones rushed forward, Naruto jumped up and ran over their shoulders, bypassing the rampant puppet and making a dash for Kankurō.

Naruto was less than a foot away when Kankurō's feigned expression of fear settled into one of arrogance; not a second later he found himself tackled by Karasu and driven into a wall, pinned by its legs and arms and the cannons shoved to his face.

"This match is ov-" Hayate dashed forward to call the match but fell into a fit of coughs.

Kankurō smirked and pulled the strings. "Finish him Karasu!"

Fire erupted and engulfed Naruto in an inferno so hot, when it was over the entire wall was black. Naruto, or what was left of him, slumped forward and fell to his face unmoving.

A moment of silence went by when Kankurō turned to Hayate with an annoyed expression. "Call the match already, the kid's dead."

Hayate's lips twitched into a smile and a second later, a second too late, Kankurō turned to see the 'Naruto' exploding in a puff of smoke. "Oh shi-"

From under the lanky genin, a pair of hands grabbed his ankles and tore him down to his knees, effectively immobilising him for what came next.

Hanging upside from the roof, Naruto dove to the ground with his arm reared back. "Shippū Shūren! DAI GIRI!"

The enormous Hurricane Drill screeched loudly as its tip sharpened and grew three times its size and reached eight feet in length.

"Karasu!"

The puppet dashed forward mechanically and jumped high to meet the drill, spreading its arms to protect Kankurō. It was a last ditch effort on his part and from the regrettable expression on his face, the puppeteer knew it too. Kankurō closed his eyes as Naruto's attack sliced through his puppet like it was nothing as chips of wood fell to the ground. The Sand genin kept his eyes closed in anticipation of certain death when… nothing happened.

"Winner, Uzumaki Naruto!"

Kankurō opened his eyes to find Naruto stomping his foot on the ground and propelling him out of his knee lock.

"See ya." The blond then turned around and left the fighting area, cheered on by a few of his peers and others who merely respected his victory.

Naruto turned only for a brief moment, looking across the hall to the Hokage's balcony, smiled and left.

-ooo-

(Hokage Balcony)

Hiruzen stifled a croaky laugh. "That was a good fight, don't you think, Genryūsei-san, Asuma-kun?" The Hokage glanced to his right and his left, sitting between two of Konoha and Kumo's most reputable shinobi.

Though Genryūsei Gekkō was not one of his own men, the Hokage was well acquainted with the man and held his respect, as did Genryūsei hold his though to a lesser extent. "It certainly was," Genryūsei agreed, "Although Uzumaki could have avoided the initial strike had he not underestimated his opponent."

Sarutobi Asuma eyed the blond across the hall. "He's got impressive control of his affinity. That jutsu isn't an easy one, I actually never got the hang of it, but to think he's actually developed it further…"

"It's an impressive jutsu," the Hokage agreed. "Genryūsei-san, how did Uzumaki Naruto fair in Kumo's academy?"

The Shinobigashira chuckled. "Uzumaki Naruto was not hailed as a prodigy if that is what you are asking, Hokage-sama."

Asuma raised an eyebrow, "He isn't? From this fight alone, I can tell he has the mindset and skills that would suggest otherwise."

"Uzumaki graduated as seventh in his class in overall scores. I believe the reports indicate he enjoyed setting traps for his peers as a practical joke instead of attending all his classes. Still, he has been accredited with taijutsu skills that could see him bumped to tokubetsu jōnin if he completes another fifty or so C to A-ranked missions."

"Jōnin level taijutsu?" Asuma sounded doubtful. "That is quite impressive, very impressive actually."

Genryūsei shrugged casually. "He's known to go at it with Yotsuki Kirabi in intense taijutsu matches that destroy much of their surroundings. In case you don't know, Yotsuki Kirabi is-"

"Raikage-dono's younger brother and Naruto's guardian, yes I know," the Sandaime finished. "Interesting."

-ooo-

(Team Kirabi)

Naruto ascended the last few steps of the stairs. "Well, that was fun." Naruto held up his hand to Hari, "Save your energy. The wound's already closed." Naruto indicated his temple, the wound had closed and the blood had already dried up. A cloth and some water would get rid of that.

Green chakra died on Hari's hand. "You know the fox is robbing me of experience here, right?" Hari joked. Then looking across the hall where Kankurō had regrouped with his team, had smiled. "That was a good fight. You've gotten a lot faster, Naruto, I didn't notice you using a Kawarimi with a hidden clone."

"Yeah, I guess I have," Naruto rubbed the back of his head with a satisfied grin.

"You still could have avoided that one hit," Yugito pointed out. "This would have been a flawless victory if you hadn't shed blood."

Naruto sweat-dropped, "Thanks, Yugito, I am very proud of myself too."

"That was a good fight," Darui affirmed, bumping fist with the blond.

"Though you could've avoided that hit," Shi pointed out with a snigger. "Just kidding, you handled yourself well."

Fifteen minutes later after another four quick fights, the electronic generated displayed on the giant screen came to a stop and read: Seido Hari versus Samidare.

"My turn already, great." Hari held up a hand to his teammates and quickly ran down the stairs and made his way to the fighting area.

Samidare had spiky brown hair with a ponytail and short spiky bangs hanging over his forehead protector; he wore a green scarf around his neck, a grey jacket and a blue-pinkish body suit, to which he had an oxygen tank attached and an umbrella on his back.

"Are you even a ninja, you dress like a housewife."

'Not even ten seconds and already he's breaking out the trash talk.' Hari's eye twitched. "This is hunter ninja garb."

"You dress like a girl," Samidare spat. "What kind of man puts on a kimono to fight?"

Hayate looked at both participants and deciding to cut off the trash talking stepped back with a chopping motion of the hand. "Begin!"

Samidare reacted quickly and reached for his weapon, a customised kunai easily three inches longer than usual. With a confident smirk on his face Samidare threw the projectile with somewhat impressive speed and accuracy, aimed for an artery on Hari's neck that would cause instant death.

Strangely enough Hari didn't move yet the kunai never made contact.

Samidare blinked a few times. "What the…" the genin took out three regular kunai and dashed to his right, throwing them in quick succession an attempt to move his opponent from his spot.

Again, for the kunai just simply disappeared without ever making contact.

"How are you doing that?" Samidare demanded.

Hari's lips twitched into a smile… as did Hayate Gekkō, the proctor couldn't keep himself from stifling a bemused snort.

Having his opponent _and_ the proctor openly mock him ticked the Ame genin off. "I'll show you!" Samidare reached into his holsters, withdrew handfuls of projectiles and then proceeded to run in a circle and lodge the blades at Hari. "Come on, die already!"

This went on for a good two minutes and stopped only when Samidare noticed he had ran out of projectiles to throw. The Ame genin panted heavily, swearing profusely as perspiration ran down his temple.

"What… are you… doing with… my kunai?" he managed to pant between shallow intakes of air.

Hari crossed his arms and merely pointed to the ceiling.

Samidare looked up slowly.

On the ceiling was a crookedsmiley face made out of kunai. It was one kunai away from a full set of eyes and looked more like it was winking and giving him a lopsided smile. "H- how did you d- do tha- that?" Samidare's voice broke as he screamed.

"Maybe I would've told you if it wasn't for those comments on my wardrobe." Hari reached for his chikutō and rested a hand on the guard.

Samidare glared at him and reached for his umbrella. Hari dashed forward, as did his opponent, and the two surged past each other. Hari turned around and sheathed his blade, it made a clicking noise just as Samidare's umbrella fell apart in three large pieces. Turning around with an incredulous look Samidare's eyes looked like they were going to pop out, then a look of rage set etched onto his face. "I'll kill you!"

The genin rushed forward, bringing his arm in a swing when Hari dashed forward, ducked under his arm and half-way unsheathed his chikutō and slammed the butt of his sword in Samidare's gut with enough force to send the genin flying backwards.

"Winner, Seido Hari!"

-ooo-

(Hokage Balcony)

Genryūsei Gekkō eyed the Hokage with mild interest. Of course the son of Seido Tadashi coming to attend the Chūnin Exam in Konoha had turned some heads, some had even suggested the son of Tadashi to be prohibited from attending.

Asuma blew a puff of smoke and chuckled. "Interesting match, that kid sure knows how to use a sword. Was that some Iaidō? Looks like Kumo brought a talented bunch this year," the jōnin offered a cigarette to Genryūsei, who declined respectfully. "What do you think, old man?"

The Hokage lit his smoke pipe and nodded. "Very skilled with a blade, much like Tadashi…" the Hokage's eyes glanced meaningfully at Genryūsei for a moment, "I believe he is another student of Yotsuki Kirabi and a teammate of Naruto. I can tell he is a fine young man."

"Indeed he is, Hokage-sama. He is nothing like his father from what I've seen." Genryūsei then added, "Once again, I thank you for allowing him to participate in the exams this year."

The Hokage waved a dismissive hand. "I have always believed we shouldn't judge one for the actions of another. It is a rule I live by, and the reason I believe my tenure as a Kage has been successful. It's a rule I passed on to Naruto when he was a child, I believe."

"You are wise, Hokage-sama." Genryūsei bowed his head, wisely choosing not to comment on the Hokage's interesting use of words.

-ooo-

(Team Kirabi)

Naruto punched Hari in the arm. "Show off," they grinned at one another, "That was a good match. You actually for once humiliated someone, I didn't think you had it in you."

Hari rubbed his arm. "Ouch... and thanks. I only did it cause he said I looked girly."

Shi smiled and Darui gave him an approving nod. "You've improved a lot on your Iaidō swordsmanship, well done."

Hari turned to last present member of Team Kirabi. "What do you think, Yugito?"

Yugito crossed her arms and looked him in the eye. "You handled yourself well, though you have likely given up on any chance your opponents will underestimate you or hold back," seeing his cheerful expression falter, "You did great compared to Naruto. At least you didn't take any unnecessary hits, or any at all for that matter."

"Oh I see, he gets all that and all I get is 'you could've avoided that hit'? OK, I see where this is going!" Naruto outraged dramatically.

…

Forty-five minutes later the preliminaries were still going on and the fights became increasingly brutal as grudges between villages came to surface, increasingly so with each fallen member. Of Konoha, Shikamaru won his first match with his Shadow Possession jutsu, forcing his opponent to knock himself out. Shino merely swarmed his bugs onto a kunoichi from Taki and she fell seconds later, drained from what little chakra she had. Kiba fiercely took down his opponent with his Gatsūga, destroying a few tiles in the process. Sai won his first match rather quickly with a fierce kenjutsu battle that lasted about two minutes before his opponent respectfully yielded. Sakura won her match with her Mythical Palm jutsu, disabling her opponent with strikes on her muscles and tendons. Tenten won a dragged out match with another long range fighting kunoichi and only won through a fluke when her opponent tripped and fell.

Kumo's Team Shikūyo all performed admirably and defeated their opponents quickly and without wasting time or energy (Darui revealed their sensei to be Mabui's sister, which came as no surprise considering their resemblance). One of the most interesting and unusual fights Naruto had seen so far was Taiko versus a tall and muscular genin from Iwa. Since he had never seen her fight, it came as a big surprise when she revealed her style to be gentaijutsu, a rare shinobi art where the user would engage their opponent in what seemed to be a regular hand-to-hand under the guise of genjutsu. With every strike she landed however, her opponent would feel twenty times the pain. Naruto made a note to never, ever mess with Taiko. Her taijutsu didn't come close to his but then again, his skill with genjutsu (including cancelling them) was mediocre at best.

Yugito had become rather tense and unresponsive and Naruto could tell she was becoming increasingly more impatient. "Don't tense up so much, Yugito. You'll be up any time now." Naruto found rather amusing to see Yugito so uncharacteristically tense and impatient but refrained from pointing it out, she could be rather violent when she was in a bad mood.

"I am not a child, Naruto." Yugito ceased her ironclad grip on the railing and her expression lit up as the board began to generate new fighters.

'Uchiha Sasuke VS Yoroi Akadō.'

Naruto's eyes scanned the area and he found the last Uchiha accompanied by a tall man with gray gravity-defying hair and his headband pulled over his eye. 'That's got to be Hatake Kakashi.' Naruto remembered the memories his father had shown him. 'Under that headband he's got a fully matured Sharingan, given to him by Obito Uchiha… Dad said this guy is a prodigy, he made jōnin at thirteen. I wonder what kind of guy this Kakashi is.'

Sasuke descended the stairs and stood opposite his opponent who politely held up the 'combat' sign, which the Uchiha emulated though he didn't seem toohappy doing it. Naruto noticed Sasuke was paler than usual and he appeared to be favouring his left side as though he was in pain. Whether that was true or not, Sasuke seemed to be handling himself just fine although he refrained from using any ninjutsu and for some reason seemed to be adamant in confronting his chakra-absorption type opponent head on in taijutsu instead of keep his distance.

"Naruto," Hari nudged his best friend and jerked his head to the right.

"What is it?" Naruto turned away from the fight and noticed Hatake Kakashi was walking over to them, putting a way a book as he did so and nodding to Shi and Darui, the latter of whom merely eyed him with indifference whilst Shi seemed visibly disdained.

"Uzumaki Naruto, my name is-"

"Hatake Kakashi," Naruto finished and Kakashi nodded. "I know who you are, you were my father's greatest student, Sharingan no Kakashi."

Kakashi's one visible eye narrowed momentarily but the Copy Ninja retained his composure. "So they told you?" Kakashi looked at Darui and Shi who shared questionable expressions. "From what I can see neither of you knew."

"This is the first time we're hearing about it," Shi was first to regain his composure and shot Naruto a questioning look. He then eyed Kakashi with the same disdain as before. "It doesn't matter. Naruto's a Kumo shinobi through-and-through and he trusts us, if he didn't tell us then there's a good reason for that."

"So I heard," Kakashi said easily. "Listen Naruto, I came by to thank you for saving Sasuke. From what I heard you went through a lot out there, going as far as risking your own life."

"It was stupid of me to challenge Orochimaru. I got overconfident and my teammates nearly died because of that," Naruto glanced at Yugito and Hari and then looked back to Kakashi. "Still, as stupid as it was, I'm glad Sasuke's OK. Last I saw him he was getting bit by Orochimaru… what did he do to him?"

Kakashi briefly glanced at his student below in the fighting area and Naruto followed his gaze. "On his left shoulder, where Orochimaru bit him, Sasuke had a juinjutsu placed on him. It's essence from Orochimaru allows him to draw on immense chakra to empower himself and his techniques."

"Sounds like one hell of a parting gift," Hari mumbled.

"Not quite," Kakashi said. "Naruto, from what I hear you're quite gifted in fūinjutsu. Am I correct to assume you know what juinjutsu are?"

"You are," Naruto nodded. "Juinjutsu are a branch of fūinjutsu that dabble in inhumane areas of fūinjutsu applications. These Cursed seals can vary in what they do and what they are capable of, but in most cases there is an element of mind control and submission."

"Correct." Kakashi jerked his head in Sasuke's direction. "The juinjutsu on Sasuke's shoulder, though powerful, is foul of essence. At the moment there's not a lot we know about Orochimaru's Cursed seals other than it corrodes the mind and will of the user the more they use it. In the past, whoever had a Cursed seal put on them were driven mad because the seal places dark thoughts in one's mind."

Naruto frowned. "What seal did you use to suppress it for the time being?"

"You may not have heard of it, but I used the Fūja Hōin to suppress it," Kakashi answered.

"I've heard of it. Written in blood, causes tremendous pain and temporary loss chakra and muscle degeneration. It relies on the subject's willpower… explains why Sasuke isn't using ninjutsu and fighting like a three year old."

"Impressive."

"Do you think that was a smart move? I can imagine how tempting it can be to use a Cursed Seal when you're in a pinch. Actually, I probably can't," Naruto grinned.

At his current stage Naruto was capable of a handful fūinjutsu, most of which were low level jutsu anyone with enough time and dedication could get the hang of. Though his arsenal was limited, Naruto had quite extensive knowledge on all kinds of seals accumulated over the past few months of studying said art. For example, Naruto knew the previous Hachibi's jinchūriki had a different seal than Kirabi, a combination of several mind altering seals including the Fūja Hōin with the San Chūseki Fūin (Three Pillar Seal). This setup had failed to restrain the Hachibi's influences on the jinchūriki. Kirabi believed the previous jinchūriki lost control because he went mad with loneliness and was consumed with hate and resentment and though Naruto hadn't said it outright then, it was likely to have to dowith the Fūja Hōin messing with the jinchūriki's mentality.

"Anyway, I suggest you get a professional to do the sealing, Kakashi. No offence, but copying fūinjutsu with your Sharingan and then using them on others seems a tad risky to me. Did you know the Fūja Hōin can close tenketsu up to a week? Or that if used improperly, some can be closed permanently? There's a good chance Sasuke will have to relearn moulding chakra if you screwed up."

Kakashi sweat-dropped. "I'm sure it'll be fine."

"Let's hope so," Naruto said dryly. "By the way, dad says 'hi' and my mother told me to inflict serious harm to you for not looking after me when I was a kid."

Kakashi's eye looked like it was about to pop out. "You spoke to Minato-sensei?"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head smiling. "It's a long story… oh look, it's your turn now Yugito."

_(Jutsu: Fūja Hōin – Evil Sealing Method!)_

…

By the time Yugito returned from her one-sided match against a Iwa genin she beat rather easily with a Raigan barrage and bone-breaking taijutsu, Naruto had told Kakashi the gist of what he had been through. He hadn't told Kakashi all of it, there was no way he could do that in just a few minutes, but he told the scarecrow ninja the essentials, those being what his father had told him and a few playfully snide comments from his mother.

"So all these years Minato-sensei was with you?" Kakashi repeated.

Naruto nodded. "I didn't know he was with me, I probably wouldn't have found out for another few years if it hadn't been for Orochimaru. Looks like that snake bastard's visit wasn't all bad." Perhaps it was a little too soon to joke about that, Hari and Yugito were giving him disapproving looks. "Anyway, Kakashi I'd love to have a chat but you should probably check up on Sasuke. He's in the middle of being fawned over by Sakura and it looks like he's about to set her on fire."

Kakashi chuckled. "I look forward to seeing you in the finals, Naruto."

Once Kakashi left, Shi and Darui turned to Naruto with matching questioning expressions.

"Right, this was one of those things I was going to tell you about later," Naruto rubbed the back of his head again. "The Fourth Hokage was my old man, who knew?"

Darui almost cracked a smile but kept his expression neutral under the scolding gaze Shi shot him and Naruto. "I can't believe this… you're actually the son of Konoha's Kiroii Senkō, Naruto." The sensory-type shinobi looked at Hari and Yugito. "So you two knew?"

"Yeah."

"We did." Yugito nodded.

"How ironic."

"What's ironic about it, Shi-sensei?" Naruto asked.

"Raikage-sama and the Yondaime were arch enemies. Before his passing, the Yondaime was the fastest man alive and the only one to have ever defeated Raikage-sama and Kirabi-sama. Interesting how this all worked out, Raikage-sama's rival dies and he ends up allowing his brother to raise the son of the only man faster than he was."

"Right." Naruto didn't exactly know what to say to that. As much he loved Kumo, he couldn't deny something had changed in him over the past few days. Kumo's cutthroat strategies to abduct shinobi with bloodline limits had happened more than once in the past, and the Hyūga Incident, which was _allegedly_ unauthorised, was not the first one. Not to mention the fact they had attempted to abduct his mother when she was a girl and how they had tried again years later when Minato clashed with the Raikage… Still, his parents had seen how his life had gone and they didn't seem to disapprove of how Kirabi had raised him. Why didn't it bother them? It should have bothered them their only son was raised by the one village that had caused them both so much grief… shouldn't it have?

An agitated expression crept to Naruto's features.

A few years before his father's death he had fought with Kirabi and Raiden whom were going to 'retrieve' the Kyūbi, which at the time was still sealed within his mother. It made Naruto think, think more than he ever did and it was both nerve wrecking and frustrating. If Kirabi had tried to abduct his mother, even if under orders from Kumo's higher ups, and killing her in the process of extracting the Kyūbi… was it possible that all those years ago he wasn't simply on border patrol? Was their encounter more than coincidence? Naruto didn't want to believe it but the more he thought about it, the more sense it made. Why would Kirabi have been the one to be on a mundane mission such as _border patrol _when he was one of Kumo's finest? None of it made sense. Why didn't it make sense?

"Something wrong?" Darui asked.

Naruto snapped out of it, willing himself to put those thoughts out of his mind and save those questions for the next time he saw Kirabi. "No, I was just thinking." Naruto looked across the board in the hall and leant on the safety railing, pretending not to notice the shared glances amongst his teammates and teachers. "I want to get this over with and get some sleep.

"You were in a meditative state for two days," Hari pointed out.

"That's not sleep, that's resting. There's a difference, a big red one." Naruto had to force himself from snapping at Hari, he couldn't allow those dark thoughts to surface now and affect both his judgement and personality. There was a time and a place for those thoughts and they certainly weren't now.

Hari was about to reply when Yugito interrupted, pointing towards the giant screen as it read: 'Saito Kenji versus Sabaku no Gaara.' "This doesn't look too good for Kenji," Yugito said. "We've never seen him fight all out but if Gaara goes at him like he did at me, Kenji won't stand a chance."

"This guy must have made one hell of an impression on you Yugito, if you think of him so highly."

Yugito frowned. "I don't think _highly_ of him, I simply acknowledge he's powerful and shouldn't be underestimated under any circumstances." Yugito made sure to emphasise on the last three words, not at all liking the glint in Naruto's eyes as he watched Gaara and Kenji take their places.

Unbeknownst to Yugito however, Naruto was more concerned with the fact none of Gaara's peers were cheering him on. Not even his teammates who seemed preoccupied with going at it with one another.

-ooo-

(Kenji VS Gaara)

Kenji drew his blade and held in a vertical guard, eyes fixated on the red-haired Sand genin. "I'm ready, proctor," he took a deep breath. Gaara had his arms crossed over his chest and he didn't seem to acknowledge the need to enter a proper fighting stance. Either he was very arrogant or he was very powerful, either way Kenji wasn't going underestimate his opponent. That was a mistake not many in his line of work could live to regret.

Gaara inclined his head ever so slightly, the proctor hesitated for a few seconds to make the chopping hand motion and shout, "Begin!"

Being the heir of a clan that excelled in kenjutsu, Kenji was never one to needlessly unsheathe his blade. A long time ago when his clan had less passionate leaders, it was forbidden for a Saito to sheathe their blade without having drawn blood. Such barbaric traditions were no longer upheld however the principle against needlessly unsheathing one's blade was still in effect.

Kenji's katana was made of white and silver metal, engraved with rippling patterns. Its guard was covered with black leather and its butt was a thick silver square engraved with the Saito Clan coat of arms: dual kunai threaded together by lightning.

"Useless."

Kenji kept his composure and held his katana horizontally, stroking across its metal. "The Saito-Ryū kenjutsu is one of Kumo's most feared techniques," Kenji swiftly sliced the air, making a whirling sound as he did so. "The wavy patterns on the metal are necessary for the Saito-Ryū to be used effectively."

Gaara tilted his head in a childlike state of confusion.

"I see you're intrigued," Kenji raised an offensive stance. "Allow me to demonstrate!"

Kenji rushed forward at a high speed and brought his sword down with such force the air screeched louder with whirling noise, however the Saito heir was in for a surprise when he was met with a sudden resistance that caught him off guard. Gaara's sand retaliated by driving into his chest with enough force to send him flying and land on his back with a painful groan. Kenji rolled over the floor and got tohis feet, narrowly avoiding a wave of sand and entered another stance. 'How does he control the sand without hand seals? Is it a bloodline limit… no, that can't be it. As far as I know no one in Suna has a kekkai genkai like this.'

Gaara was unimpressed. "I see… useless."

Kenji didn't rise to the comment, it would be undignified to so. Instead he held up his katana and rushed forward whilst charging chakra to his blade. "Saito-Ryū! Sazanami Tsurugi!" Whether it was an optic illusion or not, those who faced this technique usually never found out. Kenji's sword began to go into rippling motions so fast it began to project screeching sounds at a high frequency.

Now Gaara seemed somewhat impressed.

_(Jutsu: Saito-Ryū! Sazanami Tsurugi – Saito Style! Rippling Sword!)_

Kenji rushed forward and Gaara sent a rush of sand to buffet him but as the sand collided, Kenji's sliced clean through it and closed in on Gaara with a diagonal slice. As the blade came down however Gaara's sand had already reacted and crashed into Kenji's side and flung him way with enough force he formed a crater in the wall upon impact.

Gaara waited, easing his sand back and allowing Kenji to try again.

It was rather humiliating but Kenji believed in 'pride before a fall' and vowed to make Gaara regret underestimating him.

Breaking out of the concrete hold, Kenji got to his feet and held up his katana above him in a vertical guard. He had hoped to avoid using this technique until the fourth and final stage of the Chūnin Exams but it couldn't be helped. His katana began to glow a vibrant shade of blue as he channeled his chakra through it and brought down the blade. "Saito-Ryū! Sazanami Kire!"

_(Jutsu: Saito-Ryū! Sazanami Kire – Saito Style! Rippling Slice!)_

A screeching noise followed by an eight feet tall wave of rippling chakra soaring through the air, crashing into Gaara's ultimate defence and resulting in a loud bang. As the dust cleared up Gaara was still standing, a cocoon of sand reverting to its regular mass.

"That was my strongest technique…" Kenji's grip weakened and his sword ceased going into rippling motions. Sabaku no Gaara was not one to be trifled with, that much had been established already, but for his strongest attack to have been brushed off like that was more than just a little disheartening. The eye-patch wearing genin glowered, he couldn't accept this and refused to even acknowledge it. Kenji dashed forward, his sword going into rippling motions once again as he neared Gaara. "Sazanami-!"

Gaara's sand burst forward and slammed him into the ground. It then proceeded to tightening around him and tight grip, levitating him a good three feet off the ground as Gaara's soulless teal eyes bore into him. "You are weak. Hesitant before each attack frozen with fear." The Ichibi jinchūriki spoke the truth. "Shall I kill you now?"

Kenji glared at him. "I'm not afraid of you," he spat with venom.

"You do not fear me, not yet." Gaara's arm unfolded, his right extended towards his prey, fingers curling slowly. "You fear death. And through death, you will fear me."

The sand began to constrict tighter around Kenji, smashing his arms and legs together painfully. His joints excruciating but the Saito heir refused to scream.

"Sabaku Sōsō!"

A bloodcurdling scream followed by a rain of blood rang through the tower. Hayate dashed forward to call the match but sand swept before him and blocked his path. Kenji was alive, barely so but still alive. He was covered in blood, his legs bent in otherwise impossible angles and patches of skin were ripped of his arms, legs and face. Sabaku no Gaara's sand rose into a crashing tide and swept towards his downed enemy intent on delivering the killing blow.

As Gaara's sand came crashing, Kenji reached into his pouch with all his might and retrieved a green scroll.

A wave of energy and a powerful blast of wind collided with the sand.

_BOOM!_

Hayate Shunshined to the fallen genin and inspected his wound. Medics arrived so the proctor stood up and raised his hand in Gaara's direction. "Winner Sabaku no Gaara!"

-ooo-

(Team Kirabi)

Naruto's eyes were fixed in a glare aimed on the retreating form for Gaara. As the Sand genin ascended the stairs and walked back to his team, all the genin in his way parted to open passage as though he was a prophet. "That bastard… he could've let the proctor call the match." Naruto gritted his teeth.

The angry look in his eyes was a telltale sign of retribution and Hari knew it. "I know what you're thinking but it's not worth getting kicked out of the exams, Naruto." Truth be told Hari felt the same way, he had half a mind to let Naruto go ahead with it and restrain Yugito in case she tried to stop him but when it came down to it, getting kicked out of the exam after having worked their asses off and nearly getting killed in the process, it just didn't seem worth it. Especially not if they had a good chance at payback during the third and fourth stages.

"I know, but seeing that bastard completely indifferent to what he just did doesn't make it any easier." Naruto gritted his teeth, vowing to get back at Gaara at the next opportunity.

Darui broke the tension filled silence by pointing out the next match.

'Uzumaki Naruto VS Rock Lee.'

-ooo-

(Naruto vs Lee)

Rock Lee pumped his fist in his usual exuberant manner. "Naruto-kun, though your friend was injured, have faith he'll be back on his feet with his youthful flames fully rejuvenated!" Lee took his stance with a nod to the proctor. "Forgive me for being selfish but I would like to face you at your best, so please, Naruto-kun, put those thoughts out of your mind and fight me with all you have."

Whether it was just him or not, Naruto didn't know but there was just something about Lee's disposition that seemed to be cheer up anyone he spoke to. Perhaps Lee was as special as he was but in his own way, perhaps Lee lifted the spirits of those around him like Naruto, and bonded with those he met. Nevertheless a smile broke out on Naruto's face and he took his own stance with a nod to the proctor.

"I know you're incapable of using ninjutsu and genjutsu," Lee nodded to this, "That's why I've decided to face you with all I've got using only taijutsu, Lee. I don't want you to feel I'm giving you a handicap, because I'm not going to underestimate you for even a second!" Naruto dashed forward and jumped high in the air, spinning forward rapidly and brought down a vicious heel drop on Lee.

The Azure Beast raised his bandage covered arms in an X-shaped guard and blocked the attack. "Yosh! Then this will be the upmost youthful battle I have ever fought, Naruto-kun!" Lee retaliated with a roundhouse kick of his own and sent the airborne Naruto flying.

Naruto touched down with a back flip and charged forward once again, meeting Lee head on. This time he had no weighed clothing, he wasn't saving his best for last and he sure as hell wasn't going to hesitate to capitalise on openings and weaknesses. For his part, Lee had no inhibitions of his own and the spandex clad genin smashed his fist against Naruto's.

A brief sparkle went through Naruto, a sensation he hadn't felt before. Whatever it was, now wasn't the time to give any thought and he ducked to the ground and kicked at Lee's legs. The Konoha genin jumped high and swung his leg in rotating spin, "Konoha Senpū!"

The impact caused Naruto's arm to shake involuntarily. "Ouch, you've got one hell of a kick on you, Lee!" Naruto drew back avoiding a flurry of kicks and punches rather easily. "You pack a punch but you're on the slow slide. Whatever it is you're holding back, I suggest you break it out before it's too late!" Naruto ducked under another roundhouse kick and drove his fist into Lee's gut, then followed up with a brutal shoulder throw that smashed Lee into the concrete.

The blond backed away with a series of hand flips and allowed Lee time to get to his feet.

"I apologise, Naruto-kun. It is true, I have been holding back," Lee looked up to the stands to a man who seemed to be an adult version of himself. "Gai-sensei, I'm taking them off!"

Gai gave him a thumbs up, "Go all out, Lee! Show him what the Springtime of Youth is all about!"

Lee nodded and jumped back a good twelve feet and landed on the giant pair of hands forming a hand seal. Lee reached under his leg warmers and withdrew two sets of weights with the kanji for 'Guts' inscribed on them. "From here on, Naruto-kun, see if you can keep up!" Lee dropped the weights and they created deep craters the size of a small house as they made contact with the floor.

Naruto's eyes were practically bulging out of their sockets. "Holy fuck-" He never got to finish that sentence as a fist connected with jaw and sent him flying at such a speed he hardly registered the pain as he was lodged into the wall with enough force to crack a rib or two. "Ouch!"

Lee wasn't done yet however and unleashed a storm of rapid, bone breaking punches to Naruto's chest and face. He was moving so fasts his arms turned into blurs and the impact of each strike further lodged Naruto deeper into the concrete wall. However as Lee went for a finishing blow Naruto's hand shot forward and caught in an ironclad grip. Blood streamed freely down his chin, mouth and nose but Naruto didn't care. The onslaught had cancelled out his genjutsu and he knew as soon as Lee saw his eyes there was an opening.

"You just broke two important rules, Lee." Naruto increased the pressure and began to crush Lee's hand. The Azure Beast struggled and punched Naruto with his remaining hand but the pressure only increased and the jinchūriki retaliated with a head butt. "You never ever give up an opening and you never allow your opponent to surprise you!" With each word Naruto increased the pressure, it was rather impressing how Lee managed not to utter a single sound of pain despite veins popping up on his face that grew increasingly red.

Naruto's remaining arm broke out of the wall and connected with Lee's face, he then followed up with a neck hold and knee to Lee's face, smashing his knee thrice into Lee's face. Naruto then raised Lee by the elbows and ran forward, jumping a good ten feet into the air. "See if you can take a punishing of your own!" Naruto began to spin forward, gaining enough speed to become a blur of black and green as he finished with a pile-driver and drove Lee's head into the ground.

Lee's feet twitched, it was a sign he was alive. Naruto hadn't anticipated otherwise, having noticed the guy had an incredibly hard head when he head butted him. Knowing Lee would be up in his feet soon enough Naruto began to freely let his chakra flow out in order to vitalise his body so he could keep up with Lee. When it came down to strength, he had Lee's number but when it came down to speed, Lee was tough to keep up with. As he expected Lee broke free out of his hold and surged forward almost untraceably shouting, "Gōken!"

More out of pure reflex than foresight Naruto sidestepped the attack narrowly and threw a punch of his own which Lee also dodged. The two held onto each other in a grapple as a line of blood open on their cheeks and they grinned at one another. Lee raised his knee in a show of extraordinary flexibility, however Naruto leant back and pulled him down and launched him into the air with his feet. Lee turned midair and touched the ceiling with his feet briefly before rocketing downwards at Naruto with a heel drop intended for his skull.

Naruto ducked to the side as another crater formed where he had just been. He regained his footing just on time to intercept Lee's fist with his own, resulting in a shockwave emanating from the pair. In an instant they broke their clash and begun a high speed battle where the two of them would disappear and reappear to clash. Naruto had to thank Kirabi properly for all the beatings he'd been given, he was able to keep up mostly on pure reflex and reading Lee's movements, which were rather straightforward but downright lethal nonetheless.

-ooo-

(Konoha Genin)

The Konoha genin had been observing the fight with a steadily increasing sense of dread. The initial shock of seeing Naruto's genjutsu cancelled was overshadowed by the fight, dismissed as a way of tricking his opponents into underestimate him. Seeing Naruto take on the fastest genin of Konoha and matching his speed was disheartening and filled them with a sense of defeat as the odds of having to face Naruto increasingly rose.

"I can't believe he's able to keep up with Lee!" Tenten's expression matched her thoughts. Nobody could blame her, Lee was hands down the fastest of their generation and not even Sasuke or Neji could keep up if it wasn't for their dōjutsu and even then all they really could do was anticipate Lee's movements. Yet Naruto seemed to be matching Lee's speed without much trouble and was winning the majority of clashes.

"Uzumaki is going to win this." Shino was analysing their every move and gave reason for his thoughts. "Lee is faster but Uzumaki is stronger, that much is clear. However, one of them will run out of energy eventually and it does not look like it will be Uzumaki, considering he has more chakra than all of us combined."

"You can't be serious," Yuhi Kurenai challenged her student, feeling somewhat apprehensive Shino would say such things. "Lee's opponent has a lot of chakra, that's true but it can't be more than all of you combined."

"I was including the jōnin, too, Kurenai-sensei."

"Excuse me?"

Kakashi decided to interject. "Shino is correct, Kurenai. There are a few people in this world born with incredibly large chakra reserves like Naruto, including our own Hokage as well as the Raikage. Hokage-sama was noted to have incredibly large chakra reserves in his days of youth, and though he may not look like it now, his chakra was said to be comparable to the Kyūbi's in sheer volume when he was still in his prime. I haven't witnessed it myself, but apparently the chakra he's unleashing now doesn't come close to his full reserves."

They were all visibly shocked, although Gai was entirely convinced. "Large reserves alone do not conclude a battle, Kakashi. Your reserves are below average due to the constant siphoning of your Sharingan, yet you are one of the strongest shinobi Konoha has produced."

"He has a point," Kakashi conceded. "Lee may very well win this fight."

Gai smiled, satisfied with winning that argument and then turned cupped his hands to his mouth, "LEE! You have my permission to use _that_ technique!"

-ooo-

(Naruto VS Lee)

"LEE! You have my permission to use _that_ technique!"

Naruto paused and Lee looked up and gave his sensei the thumbs up. He then looked at Naruto and smiled, "Naruto-kun, I have enjoyed our battle immensely. You are one of the very few to have seen this technique." Naruto was confused but just as curious and so waited as Lee closed his eyes.

"Hachimon!" Lee's skin began to take on a red-orange tinge and chakra erupted from his pores. Lee's eyes became pupil-less and a green tinge formed around his body along with two steams of chakra around him forming in a spiral.

"Kaimon Open!"

Naruto's eyes could barely follow what happened next as Lee was standing still at one moment and standing still in front of him the next. Naruto blinked and went to punch him but Lee had disappeared and began running in a circle around him. Naruto was tempted to raise a tile and trip Lee but that would be cheating and he didn't want to go back on his word now.

Wind kicked up in small hurricane and Lee was upon Naruto instantly, crouched before him and delivering a powerful kick. As Naruto soared through the air, Lee continued to kick him further upwards until Naruto was mere inches from face planting into ceiling. Lee was behind him instantly matching his body's every move. "Kage Buyō." Lee wrapped his arms around Naruto and constricted him in a hold of gauze. "Here we go! Omote Renge!"

Naruto tried to break out of the hold but found it impossible to move as he rotated rapidly and was pile-driven into concrete floor headfirst.

_BOOM!_

Lee touched down in a crouch held his arm as the strain coursed through his body causing immense pain, but he forced himself to stand. The Omote Renge was a lethal kinjutsu that was much like a double edged sword, it hurt him nearly as much as his victim, sans the fractured skull, vertebrae and broken neck. Still, his opponent was powerful and if hadn't been for this technique he would have most likely ran out of steam before long and lost.

Hayate looked at Lee and then at the dust cloud emanating from the newly created crater. "Winner-"

"Not yet!" Naruto's voice sounded disembodied.

Hayate's eyes widened but he regained his composure and took a few steps back, "Continue."

Naruto emerged from the crater with clothes torn and bleeding profusely but he was still standing,.

"I can't believe you're still standing," Lee panted. "Nobody's ever survived that technique."

Naruto wiped some blood away and stood tall. "I have to hand it to you, Lee, you are going to be one hell of a fearsome guy one day. I've never such an even-matched fight before, even if did use ninjutsu there wouldn't be any difference." Naruto's grin was animalistic; it was as if he could barely restrain himself from attacking Lee. "I heard about the Hachimon but I've never seen them used before. How many gates can you open?"

"Five gates are my maximum," Lee answered as he got to his feet, standing proud by the compliments paid to him.

Naruto's grin widened and his eyes took an intense gaze, he resembled a predator of the highest calibre. "Open them."

"What?"

"You're going to want to open them for what follows, Lee." Naruto's chakra suddenly rose to incredible heights and as soon as it happened the chakra visibly receded. Naruto focused on preparing his body with his own chakra before calling forth the Kyūbi's chakra and entering his initial jinchūriki mode. "I hope you're ready!"

The red slit eyes that met Lee's own was all the Azure Beast needed.

"Second gate, Kyūmon Open! Third gate, Seimon Open!"

Chakra erupted out of the Azure Beast.

Lee's skin grew a darker shade of orange, veins began to appear all over his body visibly pumping blood through his veins; the green energy expanded as did the chakra spiralling around him. "You are a tough one, Naruto! There's no more holding back!"

_BOOM!_

Their fists connected once again and spend shockwaves of energy through the hall, kicking up strong gales. Naruto called forth more of the Kyūbi's chakra and was now matching Lee's speed perfectly, trading blows at untraceable speeds and becoming nothing but blurs as they moved, only briefly appearing in their stalemates and disappearing. Naruto curved his head and narrowly avoided a powerful punch that sent a shockwave behind him and retaliated by grabbing onto Lee's head and head butting him. Two more shockwaves followed before Lee's hands shot up and pushed his head back from delivering another blow. The spandex wearing genin shot up his leg and kicked Naruto in the jaw and followed up with a storm of kicks and punches to Naruto's gut and face.

"Fourth gate, Shōmon Open! Fifth gate, Tomon Open!" As Naruto plummeted, the bandages on Lee's left arm coiled around Naruto and pulled him back just as Lee opened another gate. Lee pulled Naruto closer for his final and most powerful technique. "URA RENGE!"

The foot and fist smashed into Naruto with such force he plummeted straight through the floor at such a velocity, huge chunks of concrete raised up as he crashed into the sixteenth floor below and dust kicked up. Midair Lee's energy left him and the excruciating pain had him fall through the same gap.

A silence went through the entire hall, nobody uttered a word and some even held their breaths as Hayate looked down the huge, twenty feet wide gap in the floor to check on the contestants. The proctor had to step back immediately as a green blur shot up and flew another fifty feet or so in the air and crashing in the ceiling. Naruto jumped high in the air, torso bare and trousers ripped to all hell, as he began kicking Lee further into the air as the Azure Beast had done to him. Naruto switched with Lee on the way down, continuously delivering punches to the face that created small shockwaves. He cocked back his arm for one final hit when he suddenly stopped.

Lee was already unconscious.

Naruto grabbed onto to Lee and switched again and braced himself for the pain as he cushioned his unconscious opponent's fall with his own body.

The floor made a plonking sound as he lodged into it with a painful groan. Naruto hadn't felt this much pain since he had fought Orochimaru and even then he couldn't remember having shed as much blood, his entire body was covered in scrapes, bruises and gashes that were bleeding profusely. With his remaining strength Naruto hauled out of the wreckage and dragged Lee out with him, panting heavily and close to losing consciousness.

Hayate nodded to the medics and called the match. "Winner, Uzumaki Naruto!"

-ooo-

(An Hour Later)

Naruto woke up with a sense of nausea and a headache much like the time he had fought with Takeshi Takezo, albeit without the chakra exhaustion. One of the first things he noticed was that he was laid on a comfy bed close to several medical apparatuses including a defibrillator, IV straps and other assorted machinery one would find in a hospital. Secondly he noticed he was wearing nothing but his trousers which now more or less resembled shorts worn by teenage punks in the big cities. His chest and arms were bandaged up, as was his head although it covered mostly his jaw and chin.

As he sat up in his bed he looked across the room and saw an unconscious Lee bandaged up like a mummy fast asleep. A medic nin walked into the room and smiled at Naruto. "Oh, you're awake already? How impressive." She spoke like a kindergarten teacher would to a child who had just finished a crude drawing, it kind of rubbed Naruto the wrong way. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine, how's Lee doing?" Naruto reached for the IV strap and took it out; he didn't need to be hydrated by a machine now that he was awake. To prove he was fine he poured a cup of water from the jug placed next to his bed and downed the cup in one. "Is he alright?"

The medical kunoichi reached for the clipboard on Lee's bed and began to read. "Hmm… the patient, Rock Lee, was admitted with symptoms in accordance with severe beating… symptoms include severe bruising, three broken ribs, several contusions, internal bleeding… Looks like Rock-san went through a painful ordeal."

"You should've seen the other guy," Naruto mumbled, hoping the Kyūbi's healing factor would kick in already.

The medical professional gave him a curious look but did not follow up with a question however she responded fiercely as Naruto got out of bed and put on his sandals. "Where do you think you're going, Uzumaki-san? You are being kept overnight for observation." The kunoichi pushed him back onto the bed shook her head as Naruto was about to retort. "No buts. You need your rest."

Just as she said that the door opened and Hari and Yugito entered the room. Naruto's expression lit up and ceased resisting the medic's orders, dutifully lying back in his bed and stretching his limbs. "I've been awake for nearly ten minutes, what took you so long?"

Hari pulled up a chair and sat down, as did Yugito. "The preliminaries just finished, and yes we also passed the prelims, thank you for asking." Hari poured a cup of water and took a sip. "Twenty of us passed in total. Not bad considering there were sixty of us to begin with." He then went on to explain the details of the next stage. "They told us there was one more stage left and it's a tournament styled process of elimination. The winner will be presented with an award and guaranteed the bump to chūnin. For anyone else it comes down to it, good performance to get the bump and that's up to our Kage to decide. Anyway, until then we've got a month to prepare."

"Hold on, they're giving us a _month_ to prepare?" Now that was odd, why would they be given so much time to prepare. Surely by now they would be prepared as they were going to be and even if they weren't, a month was simply too long. "Did anyone else say anything about that?"

"They did," Yugito informed him. "Apparently the finals will be out in the open in a specifically stadium created for this part of the exam. Some of the world's most important figures will be there to watch us fight as though we are gladiators. Organising such would take considerable time."

Naruto frowned. "Wouldn't they have organised that beforehand? I doubt they decided to make the final stage public on a whim."

"I agree," Yugito cupped her chin in thought. "I believe there will be another hidden stage during the next month. I do not know what or how, but I simply cannot believe they would give us this much time to prepare for a tournament."

"You're on to something there, Yugito," Hari agreed.

"I think so too, but how do we know who we'll be facing?" Naruto caught the ambiguous expression on Hari's face. "What, what is it?"

After the preliminaries were over, the twenty that passed were called to stay behind as the rest left. It was explained to them they would face each other in a tournament one month from now on the tenth of November. Each of them were given a number at random generated by the giant screen. Yugito drew number two, Hari's was eight and Naruto got nine – the irony would be rather amusing in the future. Other noteworthy drawers were Ryūsa with number five, Nobunaga fourteen, Sasuke three, Gaara one, his sister Temari with thirteen, Shikamaru seven and Neji with six. There were a few others but Naruto didn't particularly care, "Who am I supposed to fight?"

"Number ten, a kunoichi of Iwa by the name of Kurotsuchi. She and her two teammates made it to the finals like we did," Yugito answered. "I drew seventeen as my opponent, Kaguya Tetsuya, the one Kenichi mentioned earlier. His kekkai genkai anomaly puts me in an advantage but he will undoubtedly be a tough opponent."

Naruto turned to Hari, "What about you?"

"Number six, Hyūga Neji."

The universe really was stirring things up.

"And you're put off by this because…?" Naruto knew why, but he asked anyway.

Hari glared at him. "You know why. My dad was the reason his father was killed."

"No, Hari, it was the higher ups that demanded a body. What your dad did was stupid, but that doesn't mean you have to feel guilty!"

Yugito decided to step in before this got out of hand, Hari's self guilt was always a confrontational topic between the two and could very well end up getting physical. "Sensei, can our teammate leave? I'll make sure he has plenty rest, we have plenty of time for that anyway."

The medic frowned but relented. "Do as you like, don't blame me if he comes down with anything though."

"Thank you," Yugito said politely. "Put on some clothes, we're leaving."

Naruto didn't need to be told twice and quickly got dressed.

* * *

**_Author's Notes_**

Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, I am particularly pleased with Naruto's match against Lee, who is also one of my favourite characters. I know there were quite a lot of fights but believe, if I were to write out all the fights I had in my head we'd reach 'The Preliminaries Part X' so I had to skip quite a few. I'll probably write a few lines in the next chapter how everyone else passed. I'm getting back in the writing grove so hopefully the next chapter will be out in a couple of days; lots of interesting developments are coming up so I hope you guys will enjoy that.

Kumo Nin reached 1000+ favourites and alerts! Let's see if we can make it to 700 reviews barrier today, I'd really like to reach my 1000+ reviews goal so if you guys can help me out, it'll be hugely appreciated.

Character cameo appearances:

(1) Misaki Yakushi – Marutectz552

…

**Jutsu Used:**

_(Jutsu: Kurohigi! Yakushin no Sattō – Black Secret Technique! Onslaught Rush!) – C rank, offensive, short to midrange. Kankurō rushes his puppet Karasu forward armed with multiple blades and fire spitting cannons to make quick work of his enemies._

_(Jutsu: Fūja Hōin – Evil Sealing Method!) – A rank, supplementary, short range. A quick but excruciating piece of fūinjutsu that relies on the willpower of the subject to suppress evil thoughts and emotions. This jutsu has also proven to be capable of suppressing kekkai genkai in the past._

_(Jutsu: Saito-Ryū! Sazanami Tsurugi – Saito Style! Rippling Sword!) – C rank, offensive, short range. Kenji channels his chakra through his katana and arm to set his blade in waving motions to make its metal ripple for increased cutting power. **Derived jutsu:** Sazanami Kire (Rippling Slice)._

_(Jutsu: Saito-Ryū! Sazanami Kire – Saito Style! Rippling Slice!) – B rank, offensive, mid range. Kenji's strongest technique, similar in theory to his Sazanami Tsurugi however the Rippling Slice is considerably stronger and designed to fight enemies on midrange distance. Its cutting power and speed are also greatly enhanced in comparison its parent jutsu. **Parent jutsu:** Sazanami Tsurugi (Rippling Sword)._

_(Jutsu: Kage Buyō – Shadow of the Dancing Leaf!) – C rank, supplementary, short range. Preceded by a kick, Lee jumps high in the air and matches his opponents exact movements midair when they are vulnerable in preparation for his Omote Renge. **Derived jutsu:** Omote Renge (Front Lotus)._

_(Jutsu: Omote Renge – Front Lotus!) – B-rank, offensive, short range. Lee unlocks the first gate to increase his strength by five times and then proceeds to use his Shadow of the Dancing Leaf to match his opponents movements in preparation for the Front Lotus, a technique that requires him to wrap his gauze around his opponent and rotate rapidly as he pile-drives them into the ground. This move is extremely dangerous and is considered a kinjutsu for the strain it puts on the user. **Parent jutsu:** Hachimon (Eight Gates) & Kage Buyō (Shadow of the Dancing Leaves)._

_(Jutsu: Ura Renge – Reverse Lotus!) – A rank, offensive, short range. This technique is an advanced and more destructive version of the Front Lotus, which requires that at least three chakra gates. Once enough gates are open, the user launches the target into the air and strikes them at inhuman speed before hitting them with one arm and one foot, sending the target crashing into the ground. This is usually fatal due to the speed and power behind the attack and is consider a kinjutsu due to the stress it puts on the user's body, often resulting them in being unable to stand. **Parent jutsu:** Hachimon (Eight Gates) & Kage Buyō (Shadow of the Dancing Leaves)._


	27. Enter the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi

**Kumogakure Ninja**

Posted: 20-06-11

Updated: 28-06-11

* * *

CH27: Enter the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi

* * *

Naruto, Yugito and Hari returned to their accommodations that night and joined the rest of the Kumo shinobi who were celebrating. The party was, mostly for those that passed the second stage but a few made sure to wish Naruto a happy fourteenth birthday. There weren't any presents, simply room service and a few laughs. Genryūsei patted him on the shoulder, as did Shi and Darui and the jōnin sensei and chūnin staffers he wasn't too familiar gave him a raise of the glass as his peers congratulated him. Naruto was fine with it, he wasn't a kid anymore and he didn't want to siphon the celebrations for his birthday when they had all accomplished something huge today.

Lee had done a number on him and all he wanted was to take it easy, and perhaps the Kyūbi knew this as he continued to feel fatigued, rather bruised and battered. Still, there was no rush to hasten his body's rejuvenation and a little natural healing could do wonders.

"Happy fourteenth and well done." Darui bumped fists with Naruto, having grown accustomed to the unusual greeting after a few months hanging out with Kirabi and training his team in preparation for the Chūnin Exams. "Looks like Shi and I have to go back to active service tomorrow."

Naruto blinked a few times. "You guys are going back already? There's still a month till the finals, I can't believe you guys are going to miss out on that." Naruto understood Darui and Shi weren't their jōnin instructors and they had been given special permission from the Raikage to fill in for Kirabi, but still, over the past few months he had grown rather attached to the pair and he considered them a part of the team.

Shi ruffled his hair like he was a kid. "It's too bad but we've already taken two months off active service and the higher ups are starting to get restless. After all, they need all the jōnin they can get for next year's batch of genin students."

"You guys are going to take on a team?" Naruto had to crack a smile at that. "Whoever those brats are, they're going to be lucky if they have either of you as their sensei. I know I am."

Shi chuckled and bumped fists with his fellow blond. "We'll be going tomorrow morning, it'll be early so we wanted to say goodbye tonight."

"We can't thank you guys enough for all you've done for us, Shi-sensei, Darui-sensei." And Naruto meant it, Shi and Darui had thoroughly prepared them for the exams and Team Kirabi's success was just as much their success.

Darui gave him a sluggish smile, "You can start with winning that tournament… and maybe clear me for early retirement when you put on that Raikage hat a few years from now."

They shared a laugh and Naruto grinned. "You've got it, Darui-sensei."

Across the room Genryūsei held up glass and cleared his throat. Instantly silence fell through the room and Genryūsei cleared his throat once more for good measure. "Today five of our brightest have passed the second stage of the Chūnin Exams, let us give a round of applause for Uzumaki Naruto, Nii Yugito, Seido Hari, Ryūsa Hideaki and Heizen Nobunaga."

A round of applause went by the thirty or so present shinobi and Genryūsei continued. "Though many of you have not passed the second stage, do not worry. This year's competition was tough, extremely so. No, this is not an excuse for failure," Genryūsei gave the genin a hard stare to emphasise his point, "However it is an invaluable insight for you, the next generation of Kumo. You have seen with your own eyes and you have experienced firsthand the power of your rivals abroad. Now you can take your experiences and improve on what you can and be prepared for the battlefield of tomorrow. To those despondent about not passing, remember these exams are not the only way to get the bump. There will be more opportunities in the future, but for now let us acknowledge and celebrate those that will be represent Kumogakure in the finals!"

Naruto gladly raised his glass to that and took a swing from his beverage, closing his eyes as the repugnant tasting drink went down his throat. They were allowed for this one occasion to drink despite being minors, apparently it was a big deal for their reputable Shinobigashira to be turning a blind eye to underage drinking thus Naruto decided to have a few, although he hadn't acquired the taste for alcoholic beverages.

Genryūsei allowed the cheering to die down and cleared his throat. "The finals are one month from now and sadly teams that did not pass will have to return to Kumo. However, Raikage-sama has granted my request of allowing all of you to attend this year's Akimatsuri festival two weeks from now."

The crowd of Kumo shinobi cheered and drank to that.

…

Naruto signaled Hari and Yugito from across the room and called them to follow him to the balcony. It felt rather good to unwind after weeks of training and surviving the Forest of Death and though Naruto didn't want to bring this up in their downtime he found it prudent to do so now instead of later.

"You guys heard from Darui-sensei and Shi-sensei?" Yugito and Hari nodded so Naruto continued. "I think starting tomorrow we should go our separate ways until the finals. We can meet up for the festival, but I think it would be best if we train on our own."

Yugito and Hari shared looks and began to smile. "What is it?" Naruto asked, hoping he hadn't offended his teammates with his suggestion.

"We were thinking along the same lines," Yugito explained to him. "Once Darui-sensei and Shi-sensei told us they were leaving tomorrow, we both knew we couldn't keep training together for the time being. The odds we will end up facing one another in the finals are considerable enough to opt against it."

Hari nodded in agreement and the pseudo-medic clapped Naruto on the shoulder. "I'm not going to underestimate you not even for a second in the finals, Naruto and I expect you to do the same." Hari's expression was serious and he meant every word of it. "We've faced some interesting people out there Naruto, but the one person I want to fight the most is you. You better not disappoint, I'm going to go all out on you."

Naruto grinned and shoved Hari's hand away. "Right back at you, Hari. We've never had a real fight before so I'm looking forward to see what you've got." Naruto then turned to Yugito and winked at her, though she seemed unimpressed judging by her deadpan stare.

Hari patted Naruto on the shoulder and left to rejoin, leaving Naruto and Yugito alone. "The same goes for you, Yugito. You wouldn't forgive me if I treated you differently, would you?"

Yugito smiled. "No, I wouldn't."

Naruto took her hand in his and pulled her close, capturing her lips with his own in a brief kiss. "So about this Akimatsuri festival…"

-ooo-

(The Next Day)

It was six in the morning when Naruto woke up and changed into a pair of orange cargo shorts and a black shinobi styled T-shirt (his arms were still covered in white gauze) and was packing away the last of his belongings, making sure not to make too much noise in case he woke up the others.

Hoisting his backpack over his shoulder, Naruto moved through the room with his sandals in hand, stepping over a pair of passed out chūnin and made his way to the door. As he turned the knob and pulled it open, he felt a presence behind him and turned to see Genryūsei sitting in one of the recliners and writing a report.

"Leaving so soon?" Genryūsei put down the report and stood up, nearing Naruto as the blond closed the door and waited for the Shinobigashira to speak. "I was meaning to speak to you about… quite a lot really. I am currently writing a report to the Raikage in regards to what you told Darui and Shi."

Naruto didn't know whether to frown because they had told Genryūsei or be relieved he had left out a lot when he told them what he had experienced. "The seal still works fine and I feel fine too, if that's what you're going to ask me, Genryūsei-sensei. I know this is asking a lot but you're going to have to take my word when I say everything is under control. The Kyūbi isn't going to get out any time soon."

"I know that, Naruto." Genryūsei elaborated, "You had full control over yourself in your fight with Rock Lee yesterday, in fact it was rather impressive considering how much damage you had taken and how understandably tempting it would have been to draw out more… however, my chief concern is your physical change. Am I correct to assume you have spoken to the Kyūbi about this?"

Naruto nodded slowly, "I spoke to the fox, it told me more changes were likely to occurand not all of them were going be pleasant. It doesn't have a clue what's going to happen with me though, which is fine by me. I don't like surprises but I can live with this."

Genryūsei waited a full minute and then gave him a curt nod. "I see… what will you be doing to prepare for the exams? From what I can see you intend on training on your own, can you tell me what you're planning to improve on?"

"I suppose I could, but you're going to have to wait till the finals, Genryūsei-sensei." Naruto got an approving smile out of Genryūsei and grinned at the Shinobigashira. "I'll see you in a few weeks for the festival."

Genryūsei nodded and went back to writing his report just as the door closed with a soft _click._

…

Naruto took to the rooftops and began to run, he was unsure where he could train and was rather unfamiliar with Konoha's layout but could vaguely remember where the shinobi training rounds were and decided to head there.

It was thirty minutes or so later when he arrived at a training ground where a large seven was engraved on a pole. It was abandoned so Naruto dropped his bag next to a tree and sat down under it, it would provide enough shade when the sun was at its peak.

Naruto closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

And another.

Five minutes of breathing exercises later and Naruto opened his eyes in his mindscape.

-ooo-

(Mindscape)

The Kyūbi looked up out of its cage and bared its teeth in what must have been an irritable expression, though Naruto found it hard to make out.

"Hello to you too, Kyūbi." The fox flicked its nine tails erratically but Naruto ignored it and sat under the very same sakura tree he had a picnic under with his parents.

**"Back for more training so soon?"** The Kyūbi snorted in a way only a fox could and laid its head down on its paws, close to the wicket bars that held him locked up. **"What is it this time you wish to uncover, the Rasengan? Hiraishin? Speak boy."**

Naruto's eye twitched, it was impossible for him to get used to the Kyūbi's demeaning attitude even if he knew the fox was merely provoking him out of boredom. "The Rasengan is supposed to be my old man's signature technique, though he never completed it. Since I showed off my strongest jutsu during the preliminaries, I figured I would learn the Rasengan. No one would ever see that one coming."

The Kyūbi growled in an approving chuckle. **"Cunning, I approve. However what if you cannot master the technique in time for your fight with the finals? How will you proceed, Uzumaki Naruto?"**

Naruto hadn't thought of that, though he didn't feel particularly bothered by it. His gut was telling him he would be fine and that was enough reassurance for him. "I'm going to master this technique and make it my own before the month is up, Kyūbi. Count on it."

**"Very well, I shall leave you to your training, Uzumaki Naruto."**

Naruto raised a curious eyebrow. "Is there something you want to talk about, Kyūbi? I'm in no hurry." Naruto didn't like the Kyūbi, he never did and he probably never would but there seemed something odd about the Kyūbi these days, ever since he had found out about Uzumaki Mito it was if the Kyūbi had tried to tell him something important.

**"No. I have nothing else to say, Uzumaki Naruto."**

"Suit yourself, fur ball." Naruto closed his eyes once again and made the ram hand seal to focus his thoughts and chakra. The knowledge how to unlock the techniques Minato and Kushina had imparted with him was innate and came natural to him as though he had always known how to unlock the memories.

_"The Rasengan is a technique I developed over the years by observing your mother's Imari. The Imari is a technique exclusive only to jinchūriki and is also known as the Bijūdama. Over the years I manage to theorise a new ninjutsu that would apply the principles of physics behind the Imari and apply it to human chakra. Naruto, this is by no means an easy jutsu to master as it took me three years and Jiraiya three months with my help. The first step to creating a Rasengan is to …"_

…

Hours went by and Naruto still couldn't get the hang of it.

His father's instructions had been clear: channel chakra to the palm of your hand, then expand the chakra in your palm and mould it into a sphere, and finally: compact the chakra together and allow it spin freely. None of it made sense to Naruto and he couldn't understand how his father had been able to figure it out, it didn't make sense and it certainly didn't remind him of Kirabi's Imari, although he had seen it only once before this certainly did not begin to even remotely relate to the mass of menacing chakra.

If only Kirabi was here to help him out… Kirabi, once again Naruto couldn't help but _think. _What if his entire life had been a lie up until now, what if he had secretly been used by the village he loved and the man he believed to be like a father and a big brother to him? Naruto didn't want to think about it but he couldn't help it. The more he gave it thought, the more it made sense to him. He certainly couldn't put it past Kumo considering they had tried to abduct a Hyūga on more than one occasion to obtain a kekkai genkai and for all he knew the Hyūga's weren't the only ones targeted. Naruto also knew from detailed accounts his mother had been abducted as a young girl due to being the Kyūbi's jinchūriki, Kumo wouldn't have dared to try it with Mito even if she was far beyond her prime. When that had failed, Kumo had backed down for a few years seemingly haven given up on obtaining the Nine Tails… that was until Kirabi and Raiden were tasked with 'retrieving' (it made Naruto furious to think they were considered objects) and though they had been stopped by the Yondaime, it still just seemed odd.

'Why would Kirabi have been anywhere near Konoha on _border patrol_? He's way too valuable to be put on simple missions like that, and even if it was important for whatever reason they would have send **(sent)** ANBU operatives- _Enough._ Kirabi isn't around to have his say, I can't just go ahead and assume my whole life was just one big fucking lie without knowing the facts.' Naruto got up. "See you later, Kyūbi. I'm going to see how it goes in the real world and then I'm going to take a break."

The Kyūbi exhaled a strong breathe through its nose in a mocking snort. **"Go, I care little what your plans are."**

Naruto chuckled and neared the 'exit' of his mind and held up a hand in a parting gesture. "See ya."

-ooo-

(Real World)

Naruto's eyes opened and he found himself in the cool shade the tree provided, the sun was high in the sky and bathed the village in its light. It was perhaps two in the afternoon and as if on cue his stomach growled, so he decided to have a go at the Rasengan and then get something to eat. Naruto got to his feet and spread his feet, grasping his right hand with his left and closing his eyes.

"Rasengan." Chakra fluttered in his hand but for a moment before it died down and Naruto frowned. Why wasn't it working? He was doing exactly what his father's instructions had told him to do, yet it wasn't working for him like it should have. When Minato had used the jutsu on Dark-Naruto it enveloped him in a huge sphere of energy and blew him away, yet all Naruto got was a pathetic shapeless waste of chakra.

"OK, one more time… RASENGAN!"

A screeching noise hurt his ears and the blue matter collapsed as soon as it appeared.

"Great." Naruto picked up his backpack, threw it over his shoulder and began making his way back to the village. On his way to the village Naruto took a thoughtful expression as he was deep in thought on how to proceed with learning the Rasengan.

What he wouldn't give to have another minute with Minato to ask him for more instructions, unfortunately that was impossible now. Who else may have a clue on how to learn the Rasengan? Minato had told him he had a godfather, Jiraiya of the Sannin, but Naruto wouldn't know how to begin contacting him and thinking about it just gave him a headache. There was a good chance Hatake Kakashi may have a clue but then again, Naruto didn't know him well enough and he sure as hell didn't want to risk Kakashi telling Sasuke what to prepare for.

'Who the hell would know about the Rasengan?'

…

Naruto stopped by Ichiraku Ramen Bar a few minutes later and his stomach growled as the delicious scents filled his nostrils. Parting the curtain as he entered the small establishment, Naruto took a seat by the counter and greeted Teuchi. "Heya, old man."

Teuchi returned the greeting and quickly served another customer before turning to Naruto. "Hello there, Naruto. Been a while since you were here, I thought you had gone back to Kumo without saying goodbye."

"No way, old man. I told you last time I was here, I'm going to take you two with me when I go back!" They shared a laugh at that and Naruto took a look at the menu, picking a meal he placed it down. "I'll have a large curry ramen, please."

"Coming right up!" Teuchi prepared some noodles and set them to boil whilst preparing the vegetables. "So what happened to you, Naruto? You're completely wrapped up in gauze. Competition must be tough, huh? On that note, did you pass?"

Naruto laughed and undid the gauze covering his fingers and hands so he could eat. "It was wild out there, old man. I fought a lot of people and because too many people completed the second task, they had us fight in preliminaries yesterday. My first match went fine, but I had to fight Rock Lee in the second one and man did do a number on me. I still can't do breathing exercises without it hurting my sides."

"You fought Rock Lee… and won?" Teuchi's tone wasn't so much doubtful as it was incredulous. "I know that boy, he's an exuberant one. I saw him passed out in the road a few weeks ago, when I woke him up he said he was preparing for the Chūnin Exams. I had hoped he achieved his goal, he's such a nice kid."

"Well believe me, he didn't go down without a fight. It took everything I had to win and even then he pretty much passed because he used two kinjutsu in a row on me. If it wasn't for you know what, I would've been down and out." Naruto noticed the uncomfortable look on Teuchi's face because he mentioned the Kyūbi so he quickly changed the subject. "Where's Ayame-chan at, old man?"

Mentioning his daughter brought a smile to Teuchi. "She's off delivering a few meals to some customers. She's saving up to go on a road trip, she wants to travel the world and learn new recipes."

They made some small talk and Naruto ate his meal as he gave a detailed account of what had gone in the forest, though he went easy on the gory details. It was good to catch up but Naruto had to get going so he got up out and paid for the meal, adding in a considerable tip.

"See ya, old man. I'll be back soon!"

Teuchi nodded. "Don't be a stranger, Naruto!"

…

Naruto stuffed his hands in his pockets and continued his stroll, hardly noticing the few odd stares he got from villagers as he walked past. Apparently his triumphs during the second stage had spread like wildfire and many didn't know whether to be too intimidated to pick a fight with the young man who went toe-to-toe with Orochimaru or simply be impressed. How to approach the Rasengan was still on his mind and it didn't come to him until he saw a messenger hawk fly by and his eyes rested on the Hokage monument.

Next to this father's likeness was the likeness of the Sandaime, Konoha's legendary Professor who was said to have mastered all shinobi techniques originating from Konoha.

Quite possibly, the Rasengan was a part of the old man's arsenal.

-ooo-

(Hokage Tower)

Sarutobi Hiruzen stamped the last three files of paperwork and placed them on a large pile… just as his secretary brought another pile even taller than the last one. The Hokage's expression fell, so much for taking it easy. Then again, the Chūnin Exams were always a stressful time and with the largest one in two decades it was only expected he would be spending more time behind his desk than usual. If he wasn't so old he would have created a Kage Bunshin but that was an unwise strategy to get rid of the paperwork burden that had become the bane of his existence.

The console on his desk buzzed and a red light went off. _"Hokage-sama, you have a… visitor. It is Uzumaki Naruto, would you like to see him now?"_

Hiruzen grasped the opportunity to take a break with both hands and pressed the button on his console almost immediatley. "Yes, Suzume, allow Naruto-kun entry." The Hokage then stood up and with a silent command his three ANBU operatives appeared.

With a cold authoritative tone, the Sandaime ordered them. "Disappear."

The operatives did as ordered and left his office and would be on standby close enough.

Hiruzen sat down in his comfy chair just as the door opened and Naruto walked. "Naruto-kun, what a pleasant surprise," he greeted the boy in a grandfatherly way. "How are you doing? I was meaning to congratulate you but you were incapacitated after your fight with Rock Lee."

"Thanks, Jiji. I'm lucky to still be walking, that match really could have gone either way. I probably would have lost if I tried to use ninjutsu, I mean I thought I was doing him a favour by giving myself a handicap by not using any ninjutsu but I doubt I would have been able to keep up with him if I did. He was fast enough to stop me from doing hand seals so he probably wouldn't have _let_ me use ninjutsu and would have won if I tried anyway." Naruto wasn't lying, Lee truly was a fearsome opponent and incredibly fast, fast enough to prevent his opponent from using ninjutsu in a one-on-one match.

"I see, well you both performed admirably."

Naruto smiled and took a seat. "Don't sweat it, gramps. I've come to tell you something very important and to ask your help." The Hokage gave him a curious look so Naruto continued. "This is going to sound crazy as all hell but you have to believe me."

"Of course, I trust you implicitly, Naruto-kun."

Naruto nodded. "OK, so you've noticed my eyes are different, right?"

"It would be hard not to," Hiruzen replied with a dry tone.

"Yeah, well when I fought Orochimaru, he completely owned me in that fight- if you could even call it that. Every move I made he anticipated and overpowered and once I pissed him off enough by killing his familiar, he stabbed me. I don't know how many times but when I he did it, I knew I was going to die. The reason why I survived is because… well you know why don't you, Jiji?" Naruto stared at the Kage intently with a meaningful look.

If Hiruzen was taken by surprise he hid it impeccably, though he took nearly a full minute to respond. "Am I correct in assuming you know?"

"That the Uzumaki Clan lives on in me? Yes, Jiji, it's because of the Uzumaki's unique longevity and life force, I was able to survive it and enter a state between life and death… My heart wasn't beating and I wasn't breathing for more than twenty minutes but I didn't die, obviously. I don't know exactly what happened but I do know I'm very lucky to still be alive. "

"How did you find out about the Uzumaki Clan? Did they tell you?"

Naruto shook his head, "No, Jiji… I met my parents."

"I know what happened that day," Naruto nodded.

"How?"

"I was dying, or maybe I wasn't, but I was scared and desperate to live, Jiji, and in this state I was still able to meet with the Kyūbi, and the fox offered me a chance of survival." A grim expression settled on the Hokage's face and Naruto nodded with sigh of disappointment. "I know, it was stupid but like I said, I was scared and I was desperate. So, I did what the fox wanted me to do- or I was about to when my old man showed up and stopped me."

Hiruzen's eyes widened and though his jaw didn't drop, Naruto could sense his apprehension. "Minato? You spoke to your father?" Naruto nodded. "How? How is that possible, the Shinigami took his life in return for sealing the Kyūbi within you, did it not? As far as I know, there's no way around that, Naruto-kun."

Naruto shook his head, "Not quite. It turns out my old man and my mother sealed a portion of their souls with me before they died. My father setup the seal to alert him whenever I tried to peel it off or lost control and went beyond seven tails. Anyway, it took a while before I was able to listen to him, I'm sure you can imagine he wasn't my favourite person in the world," the Sandaime smiled mirthlessly, "But when I found out he was my father… It was weird since at the same time another version of me appeared, my dark-self." The Hokage raised an eyebrow and Naruto elaborated dismissively. "It's not important, he's just a part of myself I need to face one day. So, after Dad got rid of my dark-self my mother appeared and they told me everything."

"Everything?" Hiruzen repeated.

"Everything," Naruto affirmed and as he said it, the mood in the room completely changed, Naruto couldn't practically feel's Hiruzen's pent up feelings: regret, disappointment, apprehension and sadness. "They told me everything… about themselves and my mother's clan. They told me how Uzumaki Mito was the first jinchūriki to the Kyūbi and Kaa-chan was the second, making me the _Sandaime_ jinchūriki of the Kyūbi." They shared a smile at the joke and Naruto continued. "I know all about my mother's heritage as well my old man's. I know why you were so upset with me being a part of Kumo and I completely understand. I still don't know how I feel about it but I haven't given it much thought- that's a discussion for another time."

Hiruzen nodded understandingly. "Naruto-kun, did your parents reveal to you how the Kyūbi freed itself in the first place? Your mother seemed to be perfectly capable of controlling it and her seal was a fine piece of fūinjutsu. Coupled with her chakra chains… I didn't think it was possible for the fox to escape."

Naruto's mood darkened almost instantly. "Jiji, remember when those times when I was a upset you'd ask what happened and I wouldn't tell you," Hiruzen nodded, "You would always put your hand on my head to comfort me and you somehow always seemed to know what was wrong."

Hiruzen laughed in his croaking fashion. "I see."

"I wouldn't mind you doing that now." Naruto smiled wryly, he was all but confident he could tell Hiruzen what Uchiha Madara had done without leaving something important or going on an angry tirade that would just embarrass him.

Hiruzen stood up and walked over to Naruto who remained seated and placed his hand on the blond locks.

…

Hiruzen sat down again a few minutes later, with a cooperative his mind reading abilities didn't take very long at all if they were projecting the memories. Still, what he had just uncovered was daunting to say the least: Uchiha Madara was still alive and was responsible for the Kyūbi attack fourteen years ago. "That is rather…"

"I know," Naruto nodded understandingly. "He lives and he was strong enough to take Dad on, I mean he lost but Dad said it could've gone either way and there's a good chance Madara underestimated his speed and overestimated his own." Had the mood not been so dark, Naruto would've mocked Madara for underestimating a Kage of all people but his heart wasn't in it. He hadn't thought about Madara since his parents had told him about it and thinking about it would just piss him off.

"That's why Minato left you with the Hiraishin and the Rasengan…" Hiruzen revealed.

Naruto frowned subconsciously, he hadn't intended for the old man to uncover that information but now that the cat was out of the bag, there was no point beating around the bush. "My parents had only a limited time to spend with me, so before they left, they imparted me with some knowledge. My mother gave me knowledge on the Uzumaki fūinjutsu and her chakra chains, and my old man left me with the theoretical knowledge to recreate both the Rasengan and the Hiraishin." It was only now truly dawning upon the gravity of his father bestowing him with one of the world's most feared jutsu in history. "He told me to wait a few years though. It involves a lot of complex and intricate fūinjutsu and I'm nowhere near the level needed to learn the technique as I am now. The same goes for my mother's fūinjutsu, there's just no way I can understand any of that the way I am now." Naruto smiled mirthlessly, "You're the only one I've told everything, Jiji. My teammates know most of it but they don't know anything about Madara and I intend to keep it that way for now."

"I see," Hiruzen finally spoke again. "I would certainly hope so, Naruto-kun. Have you got any idea what would happen if this information were to leave this room? The fact Uchiha Madara lives and you have the knowledge to recreate one of the most dangerous jutsu in the world, responsible for our victory over Iwa… you would be a bigger target than I or any other Kage for that matter, Naruto-kun."

"I know that, Jiji. That's why I haven't even told my sensei. You, know everything I know. Hari and Yugito are the only people that know all the details aside from Madara and I told Kakashi, Darui and Shi I met my parents but that's all I told them."

"I appreciate your confidence in me, Naruto-kun but I sense this is not the sole reason you came to see me." For some reason, the Fire Shadow was eager to change the subject now that he had read Naruto's mind, the blond hazarded a guess it was tied to Madara still being alive. Most likely, the Hokage was eager to have him out of his way so he could gather his spies. "You have something else on your mind and I would like to hear it." Hiruzen then reached into a drawer and withdrew a shiny flask from which he took a sip… a long sip.

Naruto twitched, smiling a little as he did so. "Dad told me he never got to complete the Rasengan and I sort of promised him I would. The only problem is, I don't have a clue on using the knowledge he left with me. It's too complicated to explain it to you, but I was hoping you would know since you're the, you know, legendary Professor and all."

Hiruzen put his flask on the desk and leaned back into his office chair. "It is certainly true I have mastered many jutsu Naruto-kun, but to this day the only Konoha ninjutsu I have yet to master is the Rasengan. I never got around to learning it even though Minato offered to teach me. There was a war going on after all…"

Naruto had despondent expression on his face and nodded understandingly. "I see… It's okay, Jiji. I'll just have to figure it out on my own."

"Well then, may I suggest you take a trip to Konoha's onsen and unwind a little?" The Hokage had a meaningful look about him and smiled kindly upon Naruto. "You would be surprised how many people realise something when they're having a nice soak."

Naruto looked confused but nodded nonetheless. It was a vague piece of advice but he'd take it, it was coming from one of the world's greatest shinobi ever after all. "I guess I'll give it a try, Jiji. My body is still aching from my match against Lee anyway."

Hiruzen nodded and called after Naruto as he was about to leave. "One moment, Naruto-kun."

"Sure Jiji. What is it?" Naruto asked.

The Hokage reached into his drawer and pulled out a green scroll and placed it on the table. "I have yet to give you your birthday gift, Naruto-kun."

Confusion etched unto his face as Naruto approached the desk and picked up the green scroll. There was no tag on it, prompting Naruto to ask what was in it. "What's this, Jiji?"

"A few of Minato and Kushina's possessions we managed to salvage from their cabin. It's not much, but some of those possessions were dear to both of your parents, Naruto-kun. Happy birthday, I hope this helps to somewhat fill the void in your heart." The old shinobi croaked a cheerful laugh. "Your old apartment key is also in there if you need a place to stay until the finals. Now, off you go."

Naruto held the scroll in his hand and looked at it intently. In his hands were the last of his parent's possession and he wasn't quite sure how he could express his gratitude nor did he trust his voice not to break if he spoke. Instead, he held the scroll up to convey his gratitude and left.

As the door closed, Hiruzen took another swing from his silver flask before putting it away. "Say hello to Jiraiya for me, Naruto-kun."

-ooo-

(Konoha Onsen)

Finding the hot springs turned to be relatively easy for Naruto, he still knew his way about the village and though there were quite a few new establishments and new faces, the general layout of the village remained the same. The hospital, library, park and market proved to have stayed much the same over the years though there were at least two new shinobi-centered shops Naruto made a note to visit at some point.

"That'll be 1500 ryō, please."

Naruto took out his wallet and paid the clerk and then proceeded to take his basket and head to the changing room.

After getting undressed and tying a towel around his waist, Naruto made his way to the men's only onsen. The water was so hot there was steam everywhere and he could hardly make out his own figure but soon he began to enjoy the relaxing and rejuvenating sensations provided by the hot water. Whether the old man was right or not, one thing was sure, Naruto would be visiting Kumo's onsen on a regular basis when he got back. His muscles had already stopped aching, so Naruto laid back and adjusted his towel as a headrest and closed his eyes.

His mind wandered from the content feeling he had in his gut due to the onsen to the Rasengan and stayed on the subject for a while. Rotation, compression, velocity: these matters lost and regained meaning many times but Naruto was no closer to finding an answer an hour later. Still, it was good to unwind every now and again so he allowed himself to remain in the onsen a while longer, deciding to simply clear his thoughts and enjoy the ambience.

It was then he noticed giggling noises and another voice saying "Oh yeah, that's the stuff" and "Wherever I go, Konoha women prove to have the most talent!"

Naruto opened his eyes begrudgingly and reached for his towel, tying it in a knot around his waist as he swam to the other side of the onsen pool when the lecherous noises came from. 'What the hell...?'

Naruto climbed out of the pool and found himself facing the back of a man with long spiky white hair and a red jacket on top of a green kimono robe and shinobi pants. The man didn't seem to notice him as Naruto leaned in closely and sneaked a look through his binoculars.

This went on for a while and Naruto forgot what he was doing there in the first place but it was hard not to as he enjoyed a great view of which the steam left little to imagination.

...

Eventually the man did notice...

... and Naruto found himself thrown backwards so fast he plummeted in the cold water onsen roughly fifteen feet away.

A shrill, high pitched scream rang through the onsen and the beauties on the other side were alerted, prompting them to get reach for the towels and retreat inside the changing rooms with scandalised screams.

The white-haired man turned with an angry expression, "What the hell was that for, brat?"

With the open doors on the other side the steam lessened and they could be properly see each other.

Naruto's teeth rattled much like Kankurō's puppet as he climbed out of the ice cold bath. "Y- You s- son of a b- bitch! Wh- Why did you at- attack me in t- the first pl- place?" he managed to iterate through rattling teeth as he hugged himself.

"You just ruined my research, brat!" the white-haired pervert accused viciously. "What's a kid like you doing here away, what school let out early?"

Naruto's eye twitched. "That's rich coming from some old pervert spending who knows how many hours peeping on girls more than half his age! Some of those girls were my age, you sick bastard!"

"Hey!" The man seemed furious with that last remark. "It's a matter of where you let your eyes wander and mine don't wander on little girls, you got that?"

Naruto went through a few hand seals. "I think you need to cool off, _Erojiji._ Suiton! Mizurappa no Jutsu!"

Naruto ran forward and a wave of ice cold water rose out of the onsen behind and crashed into the lecherous old man, sending him flying back into a cart of baskets and had him swear loudly as his giant toad croaked indignantly, having broken its master's fall.

The steam had almost disappeared completely by now.

Wait, _giant toad_?

"What the fuck is that?" Naruto exclaimed as the man consoled his familiar. "Is that- is that a giant _frog_?"

"His name is Gamam and he's a _toad_, you rude little pesk. Here, have some of your own medicine. Suiton! Suiryūdan no Jutsu!"

A giant water dragon rose from the hot water onsen and crashed into Naruto, who dived to his right and narrowly avoided the attack with bulging eyes. _Who the hell did he just pick a fight with?_ The guy created a water dragon with less than ten hand seals, how in the hell did he do that?

"Regretting your actions already? Well you should, brat!" The man took a silly and completely embarrassing attempt at a super hero pose. "The name is Jiraiya and I'm not a pervert, I'm a super pervert!"

Naruto was still laid out on the floor. "Jiraiya…? As in, Jiraiya of the Sannin?"

"That's right, so you've heard of me, have you?" Jiraiya rubbed a finger under his nose in a prideful manner.

'Jiji, you crafty old man!' Naruto couldn't help but grin as he stood up and adjusted his towel. "Looks like I tried to bite off more than I can chew by picking a fight with one of the Sannin…"

Jiraiya began to nod repeatedly as though it was music to his ears to hear Naruto's apparent admission of defeat. "That's right."

"… again."

The look on Jiraiya's face was absolutely priceless and one Naruto was sure he would remember for years to come. He couldn't even hold back the laughter as much as he tried looking intimidating, the Sannin's expression was simply too hilarious.

Jiraiya regained his composure and seemed to be mentally reprimanding himself for losing it in the first place judging from his expression. "Oi, kid… you shouldn't joke about that you know."

Naruto stopped laughing instantly and pointed to the scars on his chest and traced a finger down the long scar going from his right shoulder to his left hip. "One of the few partings gifts from your buddy Orochimaru."

Jiraiya's expression turned from a reprimanding one to a serious one. "So you're that kid Uzumaki Naruto. The old man told me about your fight with Orochimaru when I got back."

"Well I'll be damned, the first time I meet my godfather he's busy peeping on girls half his age."

This time there was absolutely _nothing_ amusing about the expression of shock etched on Jiraiya's face. This was the man who had forsaken his duties to him and his parents after all.

"Godfather- you know?" Jiraiya finally managed.

"I know a lot of things these days, _Jiraiya_."All mirth had left Naruto and his eyes were fixated in a cold, calculative glare on Jiraiya as the Sannin remained silent, too shocked by Naruto's revelations. Even his familiar, Gama seemed perturbed by what Naruto had just said. "I know that you were supposed to take care of me but didn't."

"Naruto…" Jiraiya began as he finally found his voice again.

"Save it, Jiraiya-_kyōfu._ I'm not some kid with abandonment issues, alright? I know Konoha needed your intelligence network so you couldn't be a fulltime parent even if you wanted to and I _know_ you couldn't stand being near me because I reminded you of my old man and I _know_ you weren't parent-material to begin with..."

"There's more to it than that."

Naruto smiled mirthlessly, running a hand through his hair and gripping onto it tightly as he did so. "I _know_, and I'm not angry at you for choosing Konoha over me. I'm angry because nothing you say can excuse you from not being there for me _ever_ when I was a kid and really needed someone to protect me. It sure as hell doesn't excuse the fact I went fourteen years without knowing I had a godfather only to find out he was never around because _he didn't_ _care_."

In retrospect, Naruto probably hadn't thought this was how his first encounter with his godfather would be like. In fact, he couldn't even remember whether he was upset or not when he found out he had a godfather who never showed, he was with his parents at the time and the happiness of that overshadowed the hurt in knowing his godfather probably never wanted to be around him. Now that he was actually meeting with the man his parents had trusted to look after him, pent up emotions were beginning to come to surface and Naruto had sworn he would never lie to himself.

He was angry and he had every right to be and nothing Jiraiya said or did would excuse him for betraying his parent's trust and condemning Naruto to a life of loneliness.

"Naruto, I know you're angry-" Jiraiya tried to reason.

"You're damn right I'm angry."

"-but believe me when I say I could never be a parent to you. The things I have done in my life to keep Konoha safe, the _consequences_ of my actions..." It was as if Jiraiya was struck with an epiphany as his eyes met those of Naruto. "… Forget it. No more excuses."

Naruto blinked. "What?"

"You're right, Naruto. There's nothing that could possibly excuse my absence in your life. I betrayed Minato and Kushina's trust the day I refused to take you in... All the anger you're feeling towards me is justified and I can't bring myself to lie to you and tell you Konoha needed my services to the extent I couldn't be around you."

"No, not that easy, Jiraiya! Not that fucking easy!" Naruto shouted at him.

This wasn't how it was supposed to be, was it? He was supposed to be angry and this was supposed to be a confrontation!

**_"That is not what you truly desire, Uzumaki Naruto."_**

'Kyūbi! What are you- how are you doing this?'

**_"It appears the seal has weakened to the point our consciences are no longer segregated. This would be one of the less pleasant side effects I mentioned earlier."_**

'How long have you been able to hear my thoughts?' Naruto projected the thought loudly.

**_"Since yesterday."_**

'That's why you were so quiet earlier, wasn't it? Why didn't you tell me sooner?' Naruto demanded with outrage.

**_"Whelp, do not forget your place."_**

'Now is not the fucking time, Kyūbi. I'm in a bad fucking mood and if you want me to bring out the chains and force it out of you, then keep pushing!' Naruto could've sworn the Kyūbi sneered in the realms of his mind. 'Why can't I hear your thoughts?'

**_"I do not know, perhaps the seal does not work that way. I have always been able to see your entire life but never have I heard your thoughts before. Perhaps it is a fluke or perhaps it is more than that. I do not have the answers this time, Uzumaki Naruto."_**

'Great, you're as useful as-' Naruto felt a sharp stinging sensation in his cheek as Jiraiya withdrew his hand and waved it in front of his eyes. 'Shit, I completely forgot about him.'

"Naruto, are you alright?" Jiraiya's tone and expression conveyed concern.

Naruto held his cheek and glared at the Sannin, that slap hurt. "I'm fine… No, actually I'm not fine. I've got a huge fucking problem."

"A problem?" Jiraiya repeated.

"A big red one that can now read my mind."

Jiraiya's eyes narrowed.

…

They sat down at a dango shop not far from the bathing house minutes later and Jiraiya ordered them some tea and a few sticks of their most expensive dumplings on a stick. Naruto was still preoccupied with the Kyūbi, demanding more answers but the fox continued to deny having anything to do with their newly established mental link and it was becoming increasingly frustrating.

"Stop frowning, try to look more inconspicuous before people start looking at us." Jiraiya raised his cup and took a sip as his eyes darted around the establishment, there were quite a few people around meaning the odds they would be overheard were slim at best. "This new mental connection, how did it happen?"

Naruto refused to comply with his supposed godfather. "Why should I tell you?"

"Because I'm the only shot you've got to fix it," Jiraiya answered evenly, his tone was neither demanding nor encouraging. Perhaps it was one of the tricks he picked from his years as a jōnin sensei but it seemed to work as Naruto stopped frowning and merely seemed uneasy. "I know we've got a lot to talk about and I know you're angry as all hell at me, but that's just one of the failures in my life I'll have to deal with. I'm not a good godfather but I tell you one thing, I am damn good fūinjutsu master and probably the only one that can help you figure this out."

Naruto hated it when adults made infallible arguments; it made him look even more like a child in comparison. "Fine," he eventually conceded.

And so Naruto told Jiraiya everything. Jiraiya hadn't asked him for his life story but he seemed interested nonetheless as Naruto began to tell him everything from his childhood to running away from Konoha to becoming a part of Kumo's shinobi force. He told him a few things about the people he'd gotten to know, mostly about his teammates with a rather detailed account on Yugito which got a knowing smile out of Jiraiya, and eventually, Orochimaru and the aftermath of the fight.

By the time their food and drink was delivered, Jiraiya was caught off guard when Naruto began to tell him about his parents, but he regained his composure rather quickly and revealed to Naruto his father had always been shrewd and this would not have been an unusual thing for him to do.

"So those eyes…"

Naruto nodded. "One of the side effects, they don't do anything though. I've always had sharp eyes and I would have noticed if they got better or worse."

Jiraiya nodded and ate another dango deep in thought. "The problem here is obviously the damaged seal," Naruto nodded, "I need to determine what part of your seal has been eroded to establish a fix. I'm not completely familiar with the Hakke Fūin no Shiki, but I'll figure it out."

"This doesn't even begin to make up for it, you know that, right?" Naruto locked eyes with Jiraiya, a serious expression on his face as he said those words.

Jiraiya's expression faltered momentarily before he answered. "I know it doesn't, Naruto." The Toad Sage got up out of the booth and beckoned Naruto to follow him. "Let's go, we're going to take a look at your seal. Then we'll see what I can do to reinforce your seal."

Naruto frowned but followed nonetheless, he didn't want the Kyūbi to be reading his mind all the time and if he had to comply with Jiraiya to avoid that it would be a small discomfort to pay.

-ooo-

(Konoha Training Ground Seventeen)

Jiraiya waited for Naruto to put down his bag before continuing. "You said you can control up to two tails of the Kyūbi for a few minutes, right?" Naruto nodded. "Have you tried using the Kyūbi's chakra recently, even if for a few minutes?"

"Yesterday I used the fox's chakra. I pulled as much as I could without growing a tail, but that's still a ton of chakra," Naruto answered.

Jiraiya cupped his chin and nodded with a thoughtful expression. "Alright, take off your shirt."

"What the fuck for?"

"Just do it," Jiraiya told him.

Naruto begrudgingly pulled his shirt over his head, standing now only in his orange shorts. "You want to see the seal?" Jiraiya nodded, so Naruto formed the hand seal and began to mould chakra. "There we go," he said as the sun-like tattoo appeared on his stomach. "The Hakke Fūin no Shiki in its full glory."

Jiraiya crouched, being much taller than Naruto and cupped his chin as he inspected the seal. "See these outer rims?" Jiraiya poked the top bit of the seal. "That's supposed to be a safe guard against the Kyūbi's influences, I think. You were born with those whisker marks on your cheeks because of your mother since she was still the jinchūriki when she gave birth to you so those aren't connected to your eyes… Hold on."

Naruto waited patiently, albeit begrudgingly, as Jiraiya took the large sealing scroll off his back and unsealed a large empty scroll and an expensive looking fūinjutsu kit, with a large selection of specialised brushes and special ink and paper. Naruto continued to stand still with his hands in a ram hand seal as Jiraiya placed the unfurled scroll against his stomach and made a hand seal. The ink fused with chakra rose out of its pot and splashed onto the scroll and instantly began to form in a perfect replica of the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style.

Jiraiya inspected the seal once more and then nodded, sealing it away in his giant scroll.

Naruto put on his shirt, "We done?"

"Not yet," Jiraiya shook his head. "It'll take a few days to analyse the seal properly but there's another reason I brought you here." Jiraiya rose to his full height, easily towering over Naruto with his imposing stature. "Let's see how strong you've become, Naruto."

Jiraiya's expression was completely serious and it unnerved Naruto. "Wh- what?"

The Sannin didn't even bother answering the question and flicked Naruto's forehead…

… and Naruto went flying with such an incredible force he had no control over his body as he crashed through multiple trees and continued to skid painfully over the ground as he came to a stop, blood running down his head and arms.

-ooo-

(Training Ground Forty-Four Entrance)

The morning after the preliminaries, Hari and Yugito had woken up to find Naruto had left without a word. They were fine with that, there were no more words that needed to be said and they also split up. Hari had intended to train by himself for the following month and planned to perfect his Jōuen-Ryū now that he had a sword he could properly channel chakra through without destroying it.

That was until he was offered help by a most unusual figure.

Hari swallowed hard as he eyed the entrance to the Forest of Death, it had only been a few days since he had left this damnable place. "Are you sure, we can use this place to train?"

The tall figure behind him nodded.

Hari took a deep breath and exhaled as he entered the Forest of Death, where he would be living for the next month.

-ooo-

(Mountainous Countryside)

Yugito's hands glowed bright with screeching electricity and her eyes settled into a determined look as she rushed forward with her arm extended for a piercing blow.

"Raikyū!"

_BOOM!_

As her hand plunged through the stone wall, chunks of stone exploded in all directions. Yugito back flipped and landed in a crouch, a disappointed expression on her face.

That wasn't good enough. It had to be better, stronger and she had to be faster.

Much faster.

-ooo-

(Minutes Later: Naruto & Jiraiya)

Jiraiya was a monster.

That much Naruto had established in their quick, one-sided fight in which Jiraiya beat Naruto so thoroughly and so fast it was like a bad dream. All the while Naruto was getting his ass handed to him, it dawned upon him how weak he was compared to S-ranked shinobi and even more, how much Orochimaru had been toying with him.

Granted, Jiraiya was practically S-ranked amongst S-ranked shinobi (if that even made sense) but Naruto found it hard to resent the man who was simply teaching him the difference in power between him and a Kage level shinobi.

Naruto gritted his teeth, eyes stinging as blood and sweat ran down his face. Having always prided himself in knowing he had a high pain threshold, it was a humiliating experience for Naruto to be holding back a pained scream (and tears) as he held his left arm, broken by one punch he tried to block. Kirabi always held back in their spars, he was harsh and had broken limbs before in the past but at least he held back.

Jiraiya didn't hold back.

"You're a strong one, kid," Jiraiya complimented.

It only pissed Naruto off. "Strong? You're kicking my ass without even trying- ARGH, my arm!"

Jiraiya frowned and shook his head. "You're a few years too early to start comparing yourself to me, Naruto. I didn't get this strong easily, Naruto. It took me years and years of failures and obstacles before I got to where I am now. To tell you the truth, if my fourteen year old self would fight you right now, you'd mop the floor with me easily."

Naruto lowered his head, closing his eyes and gritting his teeth as pain coursed through his arm. "You broke my fucking arm!"

"Don't exaggerate, it's probably just bruised."

"Is my arm even supposed to bend this way?" Naruto shouted at him, hating himself for sounding so whiny and weak but his arm really, _really_ hurt.

Jiraiya took a thoughtful pose, "Hmm, you're right. I guess I over did it a little on you there, come here. I'm not a professional but I've mended my fair share of broken bones, kid." Green chakra sputtered to life on Jiraiya's hand as he placed it on Naruto's arm.

"You need to teach me that jutsu sometime," Naruto gritted through the pain as his bones began to repair themselves.

Jiraiya smiled in an almost knowing way. "You got it, kid."

The pain decreased after a few minutes but it was still there and his arm still hurt like hell so Naruto reached into his bag and unsealed a scroll with medical supplies and created a Kage Bunshin with some difficulty. Naruto wasn't good with medical ninjutsu but he knew how to treat basic wounds and was thankful for that as his clone created a sling for him.

"Why isn't your arm healing on its own? I remember Kushina healing almost instantly," Jiraiya observed.

Naruto shrugged but instantly regretted it. "I don't know, I think the seal's slowed down on healing. I can heal myself if I draw the Kyūbi's chakra on my own but I rather not use his chakra if I can avoid it, what with the seal being weakened in ways I don't know yet."

"That's a good idea," Jiraiya said approvingly.

Naruto looked up at Jiraiya for a moment and saw his amused expression. Against his better judgement he went ahead and said it. "My old man left me the Rasengan and the Hiraishin."

This time Jiraiya wasn't surprised in the least. "I figured he would."

"How?" Naruto asked.

"I raised your father, Naruto. I understood him better than anyone, aside from Kushina that is. I'm not worried though, you can't use the Hiraishin even if you do have the theoretical knowledge."

Naruto was unnerved by Jiraiya's insight. "H- How do you know all this?"

"Because the Hiraishin requires intensive knowledge on fūinjutsu and some snot-nosed brat like you isn't going to be capable of understanding all the algorithms and mechanics behind the jutsu." Jiraiya seemed rather pleased with him as he sat down cross-legged opposite Naruto.

"I'll get it someday. Dad told me not to try it until I was somewhat of a seals master, since it can kill me if I mess it up. For now, I'm going to try and complete the Rasengan… though I can't seem to understand my old man's instructions. They're vague to say the least."

"The Rasengan?" Jiraiya began to chuckle.

"What's so funny?"

"Just watch." Jiraiya got to his feet and took a wide stance, holding his right wrist with his left hand.

A blue orb of spinning chakra the size of a baseball came into existence in Jiraiya's hand and made a pleasant humming noise as it continued to spin.

Of course!

'Dad taught him the jutsu, how could I forget that?' Naruto also got to his feet with an excited expression. "Hey, Erojiji, teach me how to do the Rasengan! I've been trying all day and I can't even get it to spin!"

"Erojiji?" Jiraiya's eye twitched. "I suppose this won't make up for not being in your life up until now?"

"Not even close, but you'll sure as hell make a dent."

Jiraiya smiled as did Naruto. "I'll take it."

* * *

**_Author's Notes_**

Here's hoping I pulled off the pacing and introduction of Jiraiya. Sure, Naruto doesn't seem to like the guy but would in his position? I'd be pissed as all hell if I were Naruto. Next chapter we'll be covering some other cool stuff, but for now I'm off to continue editing the older chapters since those weren't as well written. You get better at writing as time passes but I'd like to clean up the mess I wrote when I first started writing this story.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed that and I look forward to reading you **reviews.**

…

**Jutsu Used:**

_(Jutsu: Suiton! Mizurappa - Violent Water Wave!) - C rank, offensive, short to mid range. The Violent Water Wave is a basic Suiton jutsu suited for offensive purposes. This jutsu's advantage lies in the fact it does not need a water source and can be blown from the mouth by converting chakra into water._


	28. AN: I HAVE NOT GIVEN UP YET

**_Author's Note_**

**I HAVE NOT GIVEN UP.**

I know it has been a long time since I last updated Kumogakure Ninja, and for that I must apologise to all of those who have read it. Updating this story has been sporadic from the get-go: I would update chapters back to back, then suddenly go on unannounced hiatus for a few months and return with a few more chapters.

The reason for this latest hiatus is not because I have lost interest in the story - I never will and I'm certainly not abandoning it - but because I am not satisfied with the way I've gone about the premise. Though Kumogakure Ninja is close to achieving my goal 1000+ reviews and has had over 400,000 hits, I am still not satisfied. I'm not satisfied with the way I've treated this story, or the way I've skimmed over so many important bits and pieces here and there, my original plot now has more holes in it that Swiss cheese (No offence to Swiss, I love you guys). And then, of course, there are the inconsistencies in Naruto's character and so on.

I feel that this story deserves **better**, and because of that, I have decided to **rewrite** Kumogakure Ninja. The events leading up to the Chūnin Exams will be much the same, only tailored for a different, sounder plot line I have decided to follow. I cannot give a precise date when the rewrite will be up, however once the first chapter is up, the frequent chapters won't be far behind.

I promise to all of you who enjoyed reading Kumogakure Ninja that I will NOT disappoint on this promise. It will be back: better than ever before. All I ask is that you remain patient. Please, do not give up on this story. I haven't, and I won't. I'll keep writing this story till it's over and I don't give a damn how long that will take. To prove to you that this isn't an empty promise, I will give out the story layout I have decided on in another update in a few days. Note that that some of the chapter titles may change.

Now I understand some of you will be disappointed, but fear not. I have other stories up, which I will be updating regularly.

Naruto: Potential Realised, or NPR for short, has so far gotten great reception. It is my spin on a different premise in which, instead of being completely ignored, Naruto's actions during the Chunin Exam and the invasion earns him a promotion along with Shikamaru. The story follows a steadily growing Naruto, with 100% original arcs and characters and more. This story is all about realising potential and Naruto's got a boatload of that. If that sounds interesting to you, have ago at it and let me know what you think. Pairings: NaruHarem – string of relationships, really.

I have also other upcoming stories that might tickle your fancy, these being:

The Uzumaki Descendant (title still pending): is an AU story. Almost immediately after the Kyubi attack, Jiraiya and Sarutobi decided to send Naruto away to live with one Uzumaki Hattori, Naruto's maternal great-great-great - you know where I'm going with this. Naruto is raised to become the next Uzumaki Clan head, and is tasked with the responsibility of not only carrying on the bloodline, but to the rebuild the hidden village of Uzushiogakure. The story is very much so based on my own theories on the Narutoverse and is one I think most of you will enjoy. Pairings: NaruHarem, including Ino, Hinata and Temari. Note that Hinata will be much, much different in this story than in canon and how she and Naruto get together is very much different than what I have seen in any story I've read so far.

To Break the World: In lieu of scrapping Jinchūriki Vengeance, I have completely changed the original premise of the story: it no longer revolves around Naruto uniting all jinchūriki. No, instead, this story takes place in a much grittier version of the Shinobi World where Naruto, a human weapon set free, becomes a Revolutionary much like Monkey D. Dragon from One Piece - this is NOT a crossover, but you'll see for yourself when it comes out. It is certainly not as action packed as my other stories, but I enjoy writing it just as much nonetheless. Some of you may have already guessed it by this short summary: this story is inspired by _LD 1449's Lost Soul_ and _Dragon6's Mizukage_. Pairings are undecided, but will most likely be NaruHarem. Like with TUD, this will not be your run-off-the-mill, bog standard harem.


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